What Could Have Been
by letswriteonwalls
Summary: When Melinda finds her 2 cousins missing she goes into the past to try and find Chris, the only one who will be able to help her find them. First Story. Please review!
1. Prologue

What Could Have Been

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. In this entire story. So I'm not gonna rewrite it on every chapter. Because if I did own Charmed would I really be sitting here writing it?**

Prologue

_O God. Where is she? Where is she? Where is she? This is not good. I knew I never should have left her alone. Crap. He got her. He got both of them. He had to have gotten them. Where else could they be? She knew that I would panic if I got back and she wasn't here. She wouldn't have done that. O god. Where is she? _

Melinda frantically looked around the small apartment she and her cousins had been sharing for the past year. They had magically cloaked it in every way that they had ever heard of after Chris left. But it looked like Wyatt had finally found them. She knew it would happen sooner or later. She actually had thought it would be sooner then this.

_Okay. Calm down. I'll just go find Chris and he'll be able to find them. This isn't that big of a deal. We all knew this was coming sooner or later. If he didn't think that then why would he have told me to find him if we got found out. _

Mel walked into the bedroom and towards the closet. She opened the door pressed her heel to one of the floorboards. After the other end popped up she knelt down and reached inside. There was a small pouch inside that she grabbed before replacing the boards and walking back into the living room/kitchen.

_What if I can't find him. Why did Bianca have to go and get herself killed. I could have used some help right now. I guess it doesn't even make a difference anymore. Where I'm going she'll still be alive. Probably not nearly as slutty though._

Mel opened the small bag and turned it upside down. A ring slid into her hand. It was her father's ring. The one she was only supposed to use in emergencies. This definitely qualified as one of those. This was the only option she had left. She would never be able to get to the book and she didn't remember the time travel spell.

_What if I screw this up? What if I screw up the past? O God. What if I screw up the present. Then the future would be all screwed up. Ugghh. I hate this. I hate being a witch and I hate Wyatt and I hate time travel. I could have been a normal girl. I could have had a boyfriend and I could have gone away to college and gotten married and had a completely boring job but nooooo I have to be the frickin' next generation of Charmed Ones._

She played with the ring, rolling it around in her palm. She didn't want to do this. There wasn't time to tell Matt and she knew he would worry when he figured out all three of them were gone. Especially the baby.

_She's not really a baby anymore. More of a toddler type little person. And either way he is going to flip when he finds us all gone. He's gonna assume we're all being tortured or already killed or something._

Mel looked around the small room for a minute before walking over to the table and grabbing the notebook next to the phone. She quickly scribble a note and grabbed the roll of tape out of one of the drawers. Walking out the front door she wondered if this would actually work.

_This is so stupid. The chances of Matt finding this are not good. But on the other hand there's no chance of Wyatt finding it. He doesn't use front doors. He just orbs in. _

She broke a piece off and taped the note to the front of the door. If Matt was alive to come check up on them he would find this and figure everything out. Hopefully. Sighing, she walked back into the tiny apartment that had once been her home. After she did this everything was going to change...again.

_I just hope this is a change for the better instead of the incredible disaster of a catastrophe that can only sum up what happened last time.I just want us all the be happy. I want to fix this. I can't take living like this anymore. This is it._

She slipped the ring on, closed her eyes, and concentrated a better life.


	2. Smile Like You Mean It

What Could Have Been

Chapter 1

This was it. Piper was about to marry the man of her dreams. Leo smiled down at her. They had been waiting for this moment for so long. Just as they were about to kiss a pink glow appeared in between them. When it faded away a girl was in it's place. She had brown hair and deep brown eyes. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she was grasping a pink ring on her right ring finger.

Piper stared at her a minute before exclaiming, "Who the hell are you?!"

The girl's eyes shot open and she stared back at Piper. She slowly turned around and looked at Leo. Her gaze shifted over everyone else in the room. There was Grams, the aunts, her mom, Uncle Daryl, Grandma and Grandpa...and that guy she had seen in the book of shadows. _Doesn't he turn out to be the Source?_

_Crap._ _Why am I back at Piper and Leo's wedding? I wonder if this was after Aunt Prue astral projected into the slutty biker chick. I hope Piper doesn't blow me up. Can she even blow stuff up yet? I wonder if they know that guy's a demon yet. What's his name? I can't remember. Dammit. Okay what do I say?_

Phoebe squinted her eyes at Mel. "Do I know you from somewhere? You look really familiar."

Mel rolled her eyes. _Of course she would recognize me. How could I have not thought of that. Why did I inherit the stupid family traits. Damn cheekbones_._ Okay. I need to think of what to say. I could lie or I could tell the truth. Either way I'm gonna be screwed. And Piper looks like she wants to blow me up so I should probably hurry this along._

"I'm...a friend. From the future. I was trying to go back in time. But I think I overshot a little." _A little? Try 3 years. _"I lost someone. Actually a couple someones. And I was just trying to get them because I need there help doing...something." _That didn't sound shady at all. They're not gonna believe me at all. _"And no you don't know me." _Yet._

Piper glared at her. "I think you're a demon.

Mel just laughed. _That's hilarious. I'm the farthest in this family from a demon. _

"What are you laughing at? I think we should just vanquish you right now."

Mel stopped laughing right away. _Well apparently she still has the same attitude as always. Vanquish first. Ask questions later. _

Leo chose right then to intervene. "Piper. I don't think that would be such a good idea. What if she was sent here by the Elders to help you?"

"Then wouldn't they have told you?"

He just shrugged his shoulders and looked over at Prue and Phoebe.

"He's right Piper. I think she's telling the truth." Mel looked in surprise over at her Aunt Prue. The way Piper and Phoebe had talked about it she was the one least likely to trust people.

Patti nodded her head and said to Mel, "What's you name, sweetie?"

Before she could answer Piper looked at Leo and said, "Could you go up there and see who she is and what they have to say about her?"

He nodded and leaned down to kiss her quickly before orbing off. _I wonder if this I what they were like when Chris went back. It was probably worse for him. I think they said Piper got even more snappy after Aunt Prue died. _

She pulled herself out of her thoughts and noticed that everyone was staring at her.

"What?"

Phoebe smiled a little and said, "You never told us your name. What is it?"

"Oh, umm it's Mel. Melanie Cooper."

"And what year are you from?"

Mel looked over at Grams and grinned._ It's been such a long time since I saw Grams. Actually since I saw anybody in here. Like 2 years. I forgot how distrusting Grams is. She's a lot like Piper. And she's probably gonna throw me out of the house if I don't answer all her questions._

"Umm 2027."

"And how do you know us in the future?"

"We're family friends."

Grams looked at her disbelievingly. "This family doesn't have friends. We have each other and our enemies."

"Mother! Honestly. Do you have to be so dramatic about everything? You're scaring the poor girl. How old are you honey?"

_It's so weird how Grandma is probably the exact opposite of Grams. She's a lot like Phoebe. _

"I'm 20."

"And do you time travel a lot?"

Mel turned her attention to Victor. _This must be when Grandpa didn't really approve of magic. He looks sick just thinking of time travel. I wonder if he's orbed anywhere yet. He'll probably freak out._

"No, actually this is my first time. And hopefully my last_."_

Phoebe grinned at her again. "You don't like time travel? Neither does Piper."

Piper glared at her younger sister before gritting her teeth and saying, "Phoebe! Don't tell her anything about us before Leo comes back and tells us who she is."

Mel rolled her eyes. "I hate time travel. This was sort of an...emergency. I really need to find the people I'm looking for before something bad happens."

Prue said, "What's gonna happen that's so bad?"

_Oh, you know just the usual. People dying. Evil taking over. The world ending. Everyday stuff really. _

"I can't tell you. Future consequences, you know? Wouldn't want to mess anything up here. I want to go back to a future where I still exist."

"There's something strange about you."

Mel sighed and looked over at the guy from the book whose name you couldn't remember. "What do you mean?"

"Well you're not human. I can tell that. But you're not a full witch either. You're strong though. Whatever you are."

_What am I? What are you? You took up 2 pages in the Book of Shadows just with you story. That's not counting the pictures and your demon page. The way it goes you never made up your mind about what you were. And you had like 200 years to decide. God! Why can't I remember your name? What is it? This is frustrating._

"Cole! You can't just go around asking people what they are! It's rude!"

_Cole! That's his name! Okay good. At least now I don't have to worry about that. _"It's okay. I'm a witch. A good witch.", she added looking in Piper's direction. Piper just continued to look at her. _Okay let's just change the subject._

"Daryl! You seem pretty quiet over there. Have anything interesting to say?"

He just looked at her like she was crazy.

"How do you know Daryl?," Prue asked suspiciously.

"I told you. We're old family friends. I used to be friends with his daughter."

"I have a daughter?," he asked.

Mel smiled. "Yeah. She's a great person. She was so nice and the most amazing friend to us. She would always help people who needed it." _I really miss her. I wonder if that was a future consequences no no? _

"Why do you say she USED to be your friend?," Piper said.

This time Mel smiled more to herself then to anyone else. "I don't have friends anymore. It was too dangerous to be friends with non magical people anymore where I come from. What if they got killed? I don't think I could live with that."

It took a minute before Mel realized what she had just said. _I'm so stupid. I forgot about Aunt Prue and how Andy died. _"That's not what I meant," she said looking over at Prue. "What happened to Andy was the way it had to be. Him dying was part of a bigger plan. It wasn't anybody's fault."

Her aunt just nodded at her and said, "You knew Andy? How?"

"In the future we're allowed to summon the dead pretty much anytime we think we need them. They can usually become corporal and stay for awhile. Like cousins from out of town. He's a great guy." _Probably my favorite would be uncle. I wish I'd grown up with him around."_

"So we get to see him again? We're gonna be able to summon him? And see him anytime?"

Mel looked down. "Not exactly." _How do I tell her she doesn't see him until she dies. Which she's going to...and soon. _"We can only do it...if we didn't personally know the person when they were actually living."

Prue, Piper, and Phoebe all nodded. Mel noticed Phoebe looking dejectedly at their mother. _I wonder when they got the power to do that? It was before any of us were born. I remember them telling us about the time Grams came back when Piper was pregnant with Wyatt._

"Are we happy in the future?" Mel looked over at Piper. _How am I supposed to answer that? She has no idea what she's asking me. _All of them were looking at her expectantly. _What do I say? If I tell them the truth they'll be scared for the rest of their lives. If I lie they'll let their guard down and it might get them killed sooner then they actually did. They probably wouldn't even believe me if I told them the whole truth. They have no idea what's coming. Either way I don't think this is the right time. I'll warn them later...once they trust me._

"Yeah. In the future you're all happy. Happier then you can probably even imagine right now." She looked down at the floor. _It feels wrong to lie to them. Mom could always tell when I was lying in my time. I wish she could tell right now._ She looked over at the woman that would one day become her mother. _Maybe I should just tell them the whole truth._

Right then Leo orbed back in a bluish glow. He quickly smiled at Piper before turning to look at Mel.

"What did they say?," asked Piper.

"They say she's...a Charmed One."


	3. Who I Am Hates Who I've Been

What Could Have Been

**AN: I changed a couple things in the last chapter after one of my reviewers pointed out Piper didn't have the ability to blow things up until after her wedding. Thanks for reading and enjoy!**

Chapter 2

_Well, the whole secret identity didn't last as long as I hoped it would. Damn Elders. If they're still alive after we change the future I'm gonna go up there and tell them exactly what this family actually thinks of them. Not that Piper hasn't done that already. I think. Maybe she didn't yet. I don't remember._

"What the hell do you mean she's a Charmed One?!"

Mel turned her attention over to Piper. "What do they mean you're a Charmed One?!" _Oh, no. I don't know what to tell her._

"Umm. Well. See. Here's the thing." Everyone was looking at her expectantly. "I don't want to tell you too much about the future because I don't want to end up screwed when I get back. You have to help me find my cousin and he'll kill me if I tell you anything."_ Wherever he is, he's probably still a complete mystery to them all. _

"You didn't say it was your cousin you were looking for before." _Okay, I'm obviously worse at this then I thought I was going to be. _Mel sighed and looked over at Prue. _I mine as well tell them the entire frickin story._

"As much as I want to, I can't tell you anything. You just have to trust me because I need your help."

Right then Grams looked up at the ceiling. She interrupted saying, "I'm sorry girls but it's time for your mother and I to leave now." She smiled sadly at her three grandchildren.

Patty and Penny went around hugging everyone and saying there goodbyes. Mel smiled looking at the almost complete family before her. _When do they meet Paige? It has to be soon. They said it was barely 6 months after Piper and Leo got married. Why does Grams keep looking at me? I think she knows._

When everyone was done Patty slowly walked up to Mel. The young girl stared at her. _Is she going to say goodbye to me? She knows too doesn't she? She has that all knowing look on her face. The one that makes her look like she could solve any problem in the world._

Patty smiled and Mel a minute before leaning in and hugging her tightly. Mel only hesitated for a moment before wrapping her arms around the grandmother that had died long before her time and squeezed her eyes shut. _I'm not going to cry._

"Are you Paige?," Patty whispered in Mel's ear.

Shaking her head slightly so that only the two of them could tell she whispered in replied, "No, but you're not too far off. I'll be seeing you. Just give me about 7 years. I love you."

They pulled away from each other, noticing everyone else looking at them. "Goodbye, dear." Patty walked over to her mother and took her hand. They disappeared andthen everyone's attention was on Mel again. _Well at least it looks like they're starting to trust me now. Thanks to Grandma. I don't have time for this anymore. I need to get Chris._

"Okay. So will you help me?"

The sisters all looked at each other and at Leo. Phoebe looked like she was all for it but Prue and Piper still looked a little wary.

Phoebe said, "Come on. We have to help her! Haven't you figured out who she is yet?"

Prue looked over at her youngest sister. "What do you mean? How do you know who she is?"

Phoebe just grinned. "I didn't mean I know exactly who she is but she's a Charmed One. She's from 27 years in the future and she's 20 years old. She has to be one of our daughters. Right? I'm thinking you're Piper's daughter because that was her little girl's name when we went to the future."She looked over at Mel who just shrugged her shoulders. _This is great. This is fanfreakingtastic! I knew they were going to figure it out. Okay. So they know that one of them is my mother but not which. And I'm not going to tell them. Except...maybe if I tell them a little more about the future they'll trust me and then they'll be more willing to help. _

"Yeah. You're right. And if it'll convince you that I'm not a demon I'll tell you a little bit about the future. Then you can help me do what I need to do. Okay?"

Piper and Phoebe immediately looked over at Prue. She nodded slowly and said, "Why don't we all go into the living room?"_ This should be fun._

The three sisters sat on the sofa across from Mel. Leo and Cole were standing behind them. Daryl had gone back to work to try and clear up some of what had happened that day and Victor had gone back to his place. There was a little bit of an awkward silence since nobody really knew where to start.

_I'm not too sure about this. _"Soooo. Is there anything in particular you wanted to know? _This isn't going to end well. Chris is going to kill me. Slowly probably. Well at least if he kills me for telling I don't have to worry about going back to a future where I wasn't born._

Phoebe grinned at her. "Why don't you just tell us about yourself?"

Mel nodded and said, "Okay. My name is Melinda Halliwell. I was born on February 14, 2007. I'm 5'4". My hair is dark brown and so are my eyes. I'm an Aquarius. I grew up in San Francisco. I always wanted to be a veterinarian when I was little. Ever since we got our dog, Magic. I graduated high school 2 years ago in 2025. I'm half witch. I have the powers of freezing, premonition, glowing, astral projecting, and empathy but premonition is my specialty. My family tell me I'm passive and freezing is my only power that I consider active. My family always said I laugh like my dad, act like Piper and have a heart like Phoebe. I hate sports and the beach. Sand gives me rashes. I'm allergic to tomatoes. I love white pizza. I'm an okay fighter. I like to make potions but I hate writing spells. I love being caught in the rain and dancing. That's pretty much all I can think of right now. Oh, and I can be talkative sometimes."

_Okay and everyone's staring at me once again. _Mel looked at them nervously. Maybe she had said too much. _Did I say something that they don't know about? _She thought back over her previous statement. She couldn't think of anything. She got so caught up in her previous statement that she completely missed Phoebe asking her a question.

"What's glowing?"

"Glowing is...remember how I came here? I just sort of appeared in that pink...glow type thing? It's like orbing only we glow and not...orb?"

They all looked a little confused. Prue said, "But how can you do that? None of us can. Unless one of us gets that power in the future. Do we?!"

Mel just shook her head and laughed. "No. I can't tell you how I got that power. Future consequences. Sorry."

Piper was the next one to say something. "What about your family. Can you tell us anything about them?"

_I guess I can tell them a little bit about the family. Just no who had what kids or who married who. That'll be fine I think. _"Okay. But just a little bit about them. I have a mom and a dad and 2 little sisters. I have 2 actual aunts and 2 uncles and one friend of the family aunt. I have 6 cousins so there are 9 of us all together. I'm the oldest in my family and the 3rd oldest in the entire family. We all got along pretty well. It was like we were all brothers and sisters. We all pretty much lived at all 3 of our houses and P3. I had a pretty good childhood altogether."

"You switched to the past tense." Mel snapped her head towards Leo.

"What?"

"You switched to the past tense. Why did you do that?" _Shit. Dammit. No calm down. This isn't that big of a deal. It's not like he would just assume that they're all dead. Which they are. But I'm here to try and fix that. _"Well we just grew up and we sort of grew apart. You know? It happens. People grow apart sometimes. We had some pretty crazy times."

"Which one of your cousins were you closest to? Is it the one your looking for now?" She looked over at Cole.

"Why do you care? You guys know he's a demon right?" She looked at the sisters. They looked surprised that she would know about him. "Yeah that's right. They told us all the stories when we were growing up. Just so we would know what was out there so that we could protect ourselves. Do you want to know what the number one rule was? Never. Trust. A. Demon."

Phoebe laughed nervously. "But we know that Cole is good. He's proved it to us."_ That's what you think. Bet you won't say that after he impregnates you with his evil demonic Source baby. _Mel just nodded her head at him.

_If I tell them her name's Prue they'll figure out that Aunt Prue is going to die._ "I'm closest to my cousin...umm Pam. We were born a couple months apart and we were in the same grade so we're pretty close. She's not the one I'm trying to find though. I mean she is but not the one I need your help with. I need you to help me find Chris. Her older brother. He's the one I need to find her and ummm my other cousin."

Prue, Piper and, Phoebe all looked at one another. "Let us go out here and talk for a minute, okay?" Mel nodded in agreement and soon found herself left in the room alone with Leo and Cole. Leo looked around awkwardly and Cole just looked at her all suspicious-like. _This sucks. Shouldn't they have like maternal instinct towards me? They should be able to talk to me and be like this girl's one of us._

Mel leaned her head back and closed her eyes._ I miss this house. _She sighed deeply. _I wish Chris and Prue were here. They always make me laugh. _She was starting to fall asleep. _Maybe I'll fall asleep and when I wake up it'll all have been a dream. These past 2 years were all a dream. _

Leo was about to say something when Cole nudged him and gestured towards Mel. They walked quietly out of the room and over to the girls.

"She fell asleep," said Leo.

Phoebe peeked into the room and whispered, "She must have been through so much. Did any of you see the look in her eyes. She looks haunted. And tired."

"She looks like she's ready to give up," was all that Piper said.

* * *

Mel was having a nightmare. At least to Prue it seemed like she was having a nightmare. After she had fallen asleep they had covered her up and Piper and Leo went up the their room while Phoebe and Cole went up to her room. Prue had volunteered to stay downstairs with Mel and had fallen asleep on the couch across from her. 

Now she was mumbling in her sleep and it sounded like she was telling someone to stop. Prue didn't know if she should wake her up or not.

"_Wyatt! Please don't do this! You know I can't let you take her! You can't even take care of yourself. How are you going to take care of a baby?!"_

_Wyatt sneered at his younger cousin. "She's my daughter! You can't just expect me to sit back and let you have her. She's mine!"_

_Mel was crying as she said, "But you can't take her. You could never raise her the right way. We won't let you raise her evil!"_

_Wyatt grimaced. "Shut up with your idiotic notions of good and evil. It's not about sides anymore, Melinda! It's about power. I had the most power growing up and this baby is going to grow up to be amazing."_

_Mel just shook her head and looked down at the floor. _

"_I'm going to propose a deal, my dear cousin. This morning I know Bianca warned you that I was coming today. I was counting on it. Next time you get a double agent you might want to make sure she's not going to go into labor in the middle of spying on your enemy!"_

_Mel jumped and stared at Wyatt._

_He laughed at her. "You thought I didn't know that my idiot of a brother knocked up that demon whore. It took me awhile to figure out why she looked so tired all the time. The thing about Phoenixes is that while being able to cast a glamour over themselves is useful, doing it for 6 months is tiring. She did it well though. So this morning when she got back from betraying me she went into labor. And she had a baby. A girl._

_She was sobbing at this point. "Please tell me she's okay. That they're both okay."_

"_Of course they're okay. I wouldn't hurt them. They're my leverage. So here's my deal. I'm going to take Bianca's baby and keep her until you decide to give me my child back. But if you try anything. If you try to take her or if you try to contact Bianca I'll kill them both. And then I'll be looking for you. So you know how to get in touch with me. Choose wisely Mel. Wouldn't want dear Chris to blame you for the death of his child and his fiancé."_

_With that he shimmered out and Mel sank to the floor sobbing. The next thing she knew she was screaming at the ceiling. "How can you expect me to choose?! Bianca is one of my best friends but I love Peyton like a daughter. I can't choose! I hate you Wyatt! I hate you!" She put her forehead to the cold hardwood floor and took a deep breath. "This has to end sooner or later," she muttered to herself._

* * *

Mel woke up with a start to find Prue staring at her. "What? Why are you staring at me?" 

"Who's Wyatt? And why do you hate him?"


	4. Heels Over Head

What Could Have Been

Chapter 3

"What? I can't answer that. Future consequences and all." _This is getting completely ridiculous. I have to stop slipping up._

Prue looked at Mel and wondered who she really was. In the back of her mind she was hoping that the girl was her daughter but she couldn't ignore the way Mel looked at her. It was different from the way she looked at Phoebe and Piper. She was more comfortable with them and she always had a look in her eyes that said she would do anything they told her to do.

"I die in the future, don't I?" Mel silence was enough to prove that her theory was right. "You can trust me, you know? You don't have to hide all those secrets. It must be killing you inside."

Mel shook her head. "No, what kills me is the fact that I can't fix any of it. I have these nightmares...well they're not really nightmares because nightmares aren't real and these most definitely are. Every night I see my family die and every night I can't stop it or help or anything."

Prue's eyebrows drew together. "Do you mean they're like premonitions only you get them while you're dreaming?"

"No, not really. See back when all this started I had premonitions of my family dying and every time I got there too late. By the time I was there to help they'd be gone. It was my fault really. Mine, Chris, and Prue's. If we had just given him Peyton them he wouldn't have done the things he did. Now I just remember what happened. In my dreams."

Prue's look of sympathy was too much for Mel to take. She stood up and began to walk around the room_. It does feel better to have someone to talk to about all this. Prue and I always pretended like it never happened. I think we were both too guilty to admit how we were feeling._

Prue was the first to break the silence. "So let me get this straight. Chris and Prue - that's the one you called Pam today, right? Because why would one of them have named their daughter after me if I hadn't died?" Mel nodded her head in agreement. _If I had been born later I would have been named Prue instead._

"So Chris and Prue are brother and sister and you're they're cousin. I get that but who's Peyton? And could you please tell me who you're mom is? You look so much like both of my sisters that I think you could be either of their's." _Not like it's going to matter if she knows who my mom is._

Mel smiled for the first time since she had woken up. "I'm Phoebe's daughter. Her oldest. Chris and Prue are Piper's. Wyatt is their older brother and Peyton is his daughter."

Prue nodded and grinned a little. "I figured Wyatt was Piper's son. Why else would he be named that. So all of you have the last name Halliwell? Grams must have been around at some point in those pregnancies. And Piper is a grandmother? She must not be too thrilled about that."

That made Mel's smile fade from her face._ If only she'd been around when it happened. She probably would have flipped if she was alive when they went through all the pregnancies. She really could have taught her kid how to keep her pants on better._

Prue had noticed the sudden shift in Mel's attitude and figured the next part out for herself. "So Piper dies too then? How soon? After me right? But before Wyatt had a baby."

"Yeah. She died when I was 12. It was hard on everyone. Especially Wyatt. I think he sort of blamed himself you know? Leo wasn't around and they were all caught off guard when it happened. They called for Wyatt and Chris but by the time they got there it was too late. After that Wyatt...changed. He had never really been that talkative and he had always been sort of solitary but he pretty much stopped saying anything more the 2 words long. Except to his girlfriend. I know he told her everything." _If she was still around none of this would be happening._

"But it wasn't really his fault? I mean everyone blames themselves when stuff like that happens," Prue replied. _Sort of like Piper blamed herself when you died._

Mel shrugged her shoulders. "We were caught off guard. Every one of us. There hadn't been a real demon attack in almost 13 years. Piper had her guard down and Prue I think got scared and panicked. I don't even think they fought. I think the demon just came in, killed Piper, and shimmered out before anybody could do anything." _And there ends the so called happy time of our lives._

Prue looked a little sick with that information. "That still doesn't explain why you hate Wyatt. Or why Chris went into the past. Was he trying to stop Piper from getting killed?" _He says he went back to stop Wyatt from turning evil but I know he thinks that doing that will save Piper._

"A lot of other stuff started happening after that. Wyatt dealt with it in a different way from the rest of us. He pushed all of us aside. But not his girlfriend. She was the only thing keeping him sane and once she was gone he just...broke. Did some pretty stupid and bad things. Chris went back to try and stop him." _But we didn't count on Chris getting Bianca pregnant right before he left. When he finds out he is going to kill us. _

"Okay but why are you trying to find him now? How long has he been gone?"

Mel answered, "He's been gone for about 9 months now. We didn't think that Wyatt would be able to raise the baby by himself so we sort of took her and hid. Me, Prue and Peyton have been living in an apartment together since he's been gone and one of our friends, Matt has been bringing us everything we need. But this morning we ran out of milk and Peyton wanted cereal so I thought I could just run out to the store and they'd be fine for 10 minutes alone. But when I got back they were gone and I knew I had to find Chris to get them back." _And if I don't find him soon Wyatt will kill Prue. And who knows what he'll do to Chris's baby._

Prue looked all around the room think about everything she had just heard. _Great. She probably thinks I'm crazy for telling her all this. She'll probably be too preoccupied with dying to be any help to me now._

"Okay, I'll help you. But only if you answer one more question for me." She looked at Mel to see her response_. Why would she want to know any more about any of this. If I were her I would help me just to be left alone. _Mel nodded slowly.

"How much longer do I have?" _Oh._

"Oh." _I wasn't expecting that. Why would she want to know that. So she could spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder? Every time a demon comes she's going to wonder if that's the one who does it. But on the other hand I think I would want to know. Just so I could have a chance to say goodbye to everybody I love. Those that are left anyway._

"About 6 months." Mel expected that Prue would be shocked but the only thing her aunt did was nod and say, "Okay, how about we try and find a way to find your cousin."

They spent the rest of the night looking through the book and trying to find some sort of spell to get Chris from wherever he was. By early morning they had tried every spell they found. The lost and found spell. The spell to call a lost witch. The spell to restore someone. _Why isn't this working? It should be working._

"Mel, don't worry. We probably just need the power of three. It takes a lot of power to call someone through time. We'll just wait til the others get up and then we'll try again." _Wyatt could be killing my cousin right now and you expect me to sit around and wait for your sisters to wake up?_

"Can't I go wake them?"

Prue shook her head. "Yesterday was Piper's wedding day. Everything was supposed to be perfect but then I ruined it. Then you ruined it. Just let them get up on their own." She was looking a little guilty about crashing her sister's wedding but Mel just laughed.

"She's not mad at you. Piper can't stay mad at anyone. Except Leo." _And sometimes Aunt Paige...but I'm not sure if you're ready to hear about her. _"She knows you didn't mean to do anything. And I wasn't even supposed to come back to this time. The ring was supposed to take me straight back to Chris. It's pretty weird how I wound up here." _I should probably look into that. It's a little shady. _"Anyway. Just give her time and she'll be fine."

Prue nodded and smiled a little bit. She couldn't believe she was getting advice from her 20 year old future niece. "I can see why they would say you're like Piper. She always gives good advice and it seems like she always knows what's bothering you." _That's exactly how she was when we were growing up._

"Yeah. Listen maybe we could try and combine to spells and ---- DEMON!"

Prue spun around to look behind her and saw a tall, tan wrinkly demon there. She quickly gestured towards the wall and he was flung across the room. He got up quickly shaking his head. He held his hands in front of him like a peace sign and started saying in a deep gravelly voice, "No. No. I'm here to help. Mel tell her." _What?! O, Crap._

"Oh, sorry. Never mind Aunt Prue. He's good and apparently here to help. Sorry Matt. Didn't recognize you." She called the last part to the demon in the corner who was currently holding his head where blood was dripping. "Come here. I'll try and clean you up."

Matt got up and began to walk over to Mel but just then Phoebe, Piper, Leo, and Cole all came running up the stairs. Phoebe was the first one through the door. She screamed, "DEMON!" and then levitated and kicked him in the face. Matt tripped backwards and fell to the ground.

"No! Phoebe! He's a good guy! He's here to help." Mel quickly went across to Matt and knelt down next to him. "You are here to help right?" Matt glared at her and she leaned back a little. _I might know he's good but he's still scary when he gives you that look._

"I don't remember. I think I have brain damage from being kicked in the head. Twice!"

"Well, why would you just come here looking like your demon self and expect that nobody would try to fight you? You practically grew up in this family." _He is such an idiot. Why isn't he changing back? _"And why aren't you changing back."

"Because when I feel threatened I change. And the demon in me is feeling more then a little threatened so I'm just going to have to wait for it to go away."_ Well he doesn't do that much._

Mel looked up at Phoebe. "Do you think you could get me something to clean him up?" Seeing the looking of hesitation on her face Mel added, "I promise we'll explain everything after I take care of him. Please?"

Phoebe nodded and walked out. Mel got up and put her hand out to Matt. "Here let's go sit on the couch over here." They went over and sat down. She leaned over him and pretended to look at his cut. "Can you still hear my thought?," she muttered.

He looked up at her and whispered in reply, "I don't know think something at me."

Mel smiled a little and thought,_ "I missed you."_

She felt Matt change back into his human form and let herself smile for real this time. He looked at her and he grinned back.

"Well it looks like someone isn't feeling threatened anymore."

Mel felt her cheeks redden when she heard Phoebe. Then she noticed how she was practically on top of Matt and blushed even more. She got up and quickly cleared her throat. "Did you get the stuff?" _This isn't embarrassing at all. _She avoided all their gazes but could see them all trying to hold back smiles out of the corners of her eyes.

Mel marched over to Matt and began to clean out the cut on his forehead. "Ow! Ouch! Mel!" _He is such a baby._

"You are such a baby! Calm down. It'll only hurt more if you keep moving. Now stay still!"

Mel quickly finished cleaning out the cut and slapped a band aid on the cut. "Mel! You did that on purpose!" _Baby._

"Stop whining. I'm done." She looked at him and thought, _"It's not like you haven't been hurt worse."_

"_Yeah, but they say the little cuts hurt more. Aren't you going to kiss it to make it feel better?"_

Mel raised an eyebrow at him and stood up. _"Maybe later. For now let's just try to explain _

_to them what's going on." _She spun around to face them and Matt got up and stared walking around the room.

Before Mel could say anything Phoebe cut in and said, "Who are you?"

Matt, who had been looking out the window turned around and said, "Who? Me?"

Phoebe laughed and said, "No the other demon that just appeared in our attic and acted like a baby."

Matt raised his eyebrows. He had forgotten how sarcastic she could be. Mel knew that look in his eyes and knew what was coming. "Matt..."

"I'm your future son-in-law, Mom."

"Matthew!"

* * *

**AN: Sorry if it seems like all they do is talk. The next chapter will be more exciting. You might even see someone you recognize...**


	5. The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows

What Could Have Been

Chapter 4

"What?! Mel, you knew I was gonna say something. I mean it's me after all. I can't keep secrets almost as bad as her." Matt pointed at a stunned looking Phoebe with a little grin

_I'm going to kill him. I am going to kill him. With his stupid little smile that he thinks is going to solve everything. He just had to come here and ruin everything. Now she knows who I am and she'll try to get closer to me. _"I am going to kill you."

Matt's eyes widened when he realized how angry Mel really was. He started to back away a little bit. "Mel, come on. You're overreacting."

"No, you come on! You think _I'm _overreacting. You're an idiot. A complete idiot. I cannot believe you just did that. I never even said I was going to marry you. You never even asked me! You just assumed that I would. You're an asshole. And I hate you! I am going to vanquish your sorry half breed demon ass!"

Matt had continued backing away through this entire tirade so that he was almost at the attic door. He shook his head. _"Mel, I'm sorry. I didn't know..." _He was cut off in the middle of his apology by Mel sprinting towards him. He spun around and took off down the stair, with his very pissed off girlfriend following close behind.

"Well, she may be my daughter but she definitely inherited your temper, Piper."

Piper just shook her head at Phoebe. "I wonder why she didn't want us to know so bad. I mean it's not that big of a deal right?"

"Maybe there's something she isn't telling you guys," said Cole.

"Or maybe she's trying to protect us," replied Leo giving Cole a look.

They heard a bang downstairs followed by what was definitely a vase crashing to the floor. They could hear Mel screaming something at Matt and his quieter voice trying to redeem himself. They knew it wasn't working when they heard another vase breaking. "That was almost my head, Melinda!"

Phoebe said, "Well at this rate it sounds like he might start fighting back."

"At this rate it sounds like we might have to replace all the vases in the house," replied Piper.

There was another loud bang and what sounded like the couch being moved.

Leo looked at the sisters and said, "Hey, you three don't know what it's like to be on the other end of a Charmed One's wrath." Cole nodded in agreement.

Prue finally spoke up saying, "I don't know if she's completely overreacting. We had the chance to...talk last night and I don't think it's been an easy life for her."

Piper looked at her older sister and said, "Why? What did she tell you?

"Not much. Just that she's seen a lot of people that were close to her die and she partially blames herself. If not completely."

"But I thought she said we were happy in the future?" Phoebe said.

Prue just shrugged her shoulders. "I think she might have lied a little."

Cole was the first one to speak up. "I think she may have burnt herself out." he looked around at their confused expressions. "Listen do you hear that? They stopped fighting."

* * *

Matt made it all the way down the stairs before spinning around and facing Mel. She jumped the last two stairs and shoved him backwards. He knocked into the small circular table causing the vase to crash to the ground.

"Mel. Mel! Calm down. This is ridiculous."

"I am not ridiculous, Matthew!", she screamed.

"I didn't say you were ridiculous. I just meant that your reaction is ridiculous." Her red face told him that that hadn't been the smartest thing in the world to say. He began backing away from her again into the living room. She picked up a vase and threw it at his head. He dodged it at the last minute and it broke against the wall.

"That was almost my head, Melinda!" _He's insane if he thinks I care._

Mel raised her hands to freeze him but he lunged forward and tackled her to the ground, knocking into the couch as he went. It slid away from them, making a scraping sound against the hardwood floor. He laid on top of her and said, "Mel, please calm down. I am begging you. I am sorry. I didn't know how badly you wanted to keep it a secret." _You don't even know what your in for, demon boy._

"Matthew, I swear to God I am going to kill you. I'm too angry to even think. Now get off of me. You're only making this worse for yourself."

He kept her pinned to the ground until she stopped squirming to get away. "You can't keep me here forever, Matt. As soon as I get up you're dead." _He thinks I'm kidding._

"Mel, why don't you just tell me why you're so angry about this. I have a feeling it's more about me telling Phoebe you're her daughter then me saying we're engaged. Why didn't you want her to know? What are you so scared of?" _Everything._

"_I'm not scared of anything. You're the one who should be scared."_

"Mel, stop making empty threats! I know you better then almost anyone else. We grew up together. Remember when we went to the park and you fell out of the tree and broke your arm and I carried you all the way back to the manner? And remember the one time in school when that kid was making fun of me and you punched him? Then you got in so much trouble but you never told anyone why you didn't because you didn't want me to be embarrassed? I don't think you really want to kill me after everything we've been through. So tell me, what are you so scared is going to happen?" Mel laid still underneath him. _He always knows what to say._

"_Maybe I'm trying to kill you because you know all my secrets. I mean you could blackmail me with everything I've told you."_

"Mel, stop joking around. Just talk to me." _Okay._

She sighed and closed her eyes. "I'm scared that now she knows I'm her daughter she'll try to get close to me. And I'll get all attached to her and then we'll go back to our time and she won't be there and it'll feel like she died all over again. I don't think I could take that, Matt. And I've only been here one day and I'm already attached to Aunt Prue. I mean I never got to know her and it feels great to finally be a part of this huge chapter of my mom's life. And Aunt Piper is exactly like I remember her but every time I look in her eyes I see Prue staring back at me. And I don't know how to deal with all of this. And I'm scared for Prue and Peyton and Chris. What is we can't find him? What if Wyatt kills one of them? And I've missed you so much. You haven't been around in almost 2 weeks." _"Where have you been? I've been going crazy."_

"I couldn't come see you guys. Wyatt was starting to catch on I think." _"I'm sorry. I love you." _Listen to me. You haven't seen you're mother in 2 years. You couldn't even have a proper funeral for her because of everything that was happening. I think that you deserve to spend a little time with her. And this time you'll be able to say goodbye okay?"

Mel nodded slowly and looked up at Matt._ "I love you, too." _He slowly leaned down and kissed her. When they broke apart she grinned and said, "I think I've missed you more then I thought. Now get off of me."

He grinned back and rolled off of her. He laid on his side and looked at her. She turned her head and met his eyes. They just stayed in this position until they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. _They keep catching us in these awkward moments. _Quickly standing up they stepped away from each other and looked to see everyone coming down the steps. _They probably think we can't keep our hands off each other._

"Everything okay now?" questioned Piper. _Just peachy._

Mel and Matt looked at each other and smiled. "Yeah. Everything is just fine."

They all gathered in the living room and everyone except Mel and Matt sat down. Phoebe and Cole sat on the armchair while Prue, Piper, and Leo sat on the sofa.

"So are you ready to explain yourselves now?" Mel glanced at Phoebe and then at Matt and nodded. _"Do you want to start, Matt?" _He nodded back at her and took a breath.

"My mother was a manticore and my father was a human. You're sister," he gestured towards Piper. "Vanquished my mother before she knew about me and then felt guilty so they took me home with them. Then they helped my father get rid of the rest of my mother's Manticore family and they've been friends ever since. Well actually they stopped talking for about 2 years but after everything calmed down for them they got back together. I was really good friends with Piper's kids and Mel. _Especially me but in a different way._

"Especially with Mel, though huh? But in a different way?" Phoebe grinned and wiggles her eyebrows at him. _Okay. That was more then a little freaky._

Matt smiled a little and nodded. "I'm not sure how much you know but I'll just start at the beginning. You have a son named Wyatt." he pointed this at Piper. "We think that something must have happened to Wyatt when he was a baby. Most likely before he was even 2. And we think that made him more susceptible to evil. That and the fact that he was the only Halliwell of his generation born in the Manor." _Hmmm never really thought of that but I guess that's a good theory. Especially with what happened to Phoebe and the Woogey._

"Wait. So you're telling me that my son is evil in your time?", Piper said shrilly.

Mel cut Matt off before he could try to explain. "Yeah, but that's what Chris went back to fix. So hopefully by the time you have Wyatt and all the threat will be gone."

Piper looked a little reassured but not completely. She looked over at Leo and he gently took her hand.

Mel nodded at Matt to keep going. "So when Wyatt was 16 there was the...Event and after that he was different around us. You know how family oriented this family always was. He started to push away and get closer to his girlfriend, Julie. He didn't really talk to anyone that much anymore." _We could have made him talk. We should have been able to help him._

"So right around November of Mel and Prue's senior year, his girlfriend got pregnant. And her parents were pissed at first but they got over it and I think they even began to accept Wyatt into their family. Wyatt was happier then he had been in awhile and I think that's the reason Phoebe and Paige didn't get mad at him or anything." _"NO! You just mentioned Aunt Paige! They don't know about her yet!"_

And sure enough Prue had already opened her mouth to ask them. Matt quickly interrupted her. "Sorry, Paige is a very close family friend. Almost like another mother to Wyatt." _"She is his godmother."_

"So after Mel and Prue graduated Phoebe and Paige told us we should go away for the weekend. Go to the shore and have a little fun. So Wyatt brought Julie, Chris brought his girlfriend, Prue brought her boyfriend, Bryan, he was also one of our whitelighters, and Mel brought me. And we had a great time." _If we had just stayed there for another day we wouldn't be in this mess. _

Mel suddenly spoke up. "While we were there Prue told me she was pregnant. And I was a little bit shocked. She said she wasn't ready to tell Bryan yet and wanted to wait until we got home. She told Julie though because she wanted to know if there was any way to get around the whole morning sickness thing. So we packed up and got ready to leave. Wyatt had brought his car and so had Matt." Mel's mind suddenly went blank and all she could do was remember what had happened.

She stopped and paused. Matt looked at her, concerned before continuing. "So me and Mel were waiting our car and Wyatt was waiting in his. Prue and Bryan were supposed to come in our car but she had gotten sick and Julie was in the house with her."

Mel interrupted again. "I should have been the one with her but I was already in car and I didn't feel like getting out. She had been throwing up all week so I figured it wasn't that big of a deal and plus Julie was already in there."

Matt continued. "So Chris and Bianca decided to come with us and we left. It couldn't have been more then 5 minutes we were on the road when we heard the crash."

The sisters, Leo, and Cole looked entranced by the story. Piper was looking a little sickened and Phoebe had a grimace on her face.

"When we heard it we pulled over and called Wyatt to check and see if they were all right. He didn't pick up and neither did any of the other 3. So we turned around and went back. It turned out that at the intersection down the street from the house, some car had run a red light and hit their car. Wyatt and Bryan were on the other side of the car and didn't really get hurt. But Prue wasn't wearing her seatbelt and got thrown through the windshield. She landed on this metal rod thing and it went through her stomach. Julie was in the backseat and got most of it though. She was dead before they even got her to the hospital."

Tears were rolling down all three of the sisters faces. Leo was rubbing Piper's back and Cole was holding Phoebe's hands in between his own.

"They think she was sitting with her back to the door and her legs stretched out. She wasn't wearing a seatbelt either. She always said they dug into her stomach. So we get to the hospital and Wyatt and Bryan both had mild concussions and scrapes and bruises. Prue had a major concussion and a collapsed lung but she was going to be okay. Needless to say she had also lost the baby. But they had been able to save Julie's baby."

"Wyatt was pretty much inconsolable. We think it was because she died a completely human death and he couldn't do anything to help her. He named the baby Peyton Rose like he and Julie had decided and took her back to the manor. We don't really know what he did over the next month but we're pretty sure he did everything he could to call Julie back from the dead. Her family was raising hell over Peyton because he wouldn't let them see her. Sometime in there he must have turned to the black magic to try and bring her back. The next thing we knew Julie's family was dead. Well they disappeared but we knew that a demon got them."

Mel started talking again. "Prue was the first to point a finger at Wyatt. I think we all knew all along but she was the first to say it out loud. So we pretty much all tiptoed around Wyatt for another month until Bryan finally snapped at him. Prue had been really upset about Wyatt and the baby and everything and he was sick of Wyatt treating her like crap. So he freaked out on him. The next day a darklighter came and shot him while everyone else was out and Prue was sleeping. He was gone before we knew it."

Mel stopped talking again. Matt picked up where she left off.

"Phoebe and Paige went to talk to him. We think they knew it was him too and they were trying to convince him to stop. The next day he sent a whole faction of demons to kill them. By then the family was crazy. The next one to try and stop him was Leo. He sent a darklighter after Leo but he got away and Aunt Billie told him to hide Upthere until she told him everything was clear. She didn't think Wyatt was the one doing it."

"So the next thing we know he killed Phoebe and Paige's husbands. We think it was just to get them out of the way. Aunt Billie was left and Leo was too but we knew she would never call him back down. We still don't know where he is."

"Prue knew it was Wyatt and so did Chris. So we made a plan. Mel and Prue took the baby and ran. Bianca and I pretended to be on Wyatt's side. Chris magically hid them in every way he knew possible. The next week Chris found our youngest cousin, Henry dead. His throat was slit and he had just been left in the attic where Wyatt knew someone would find him."

Mel said, "Next were my sisters, Cass and Bri. Bri was scared of water so he told one of his demons to drown her and the other one he burned alive. I only know because I saw it in my premonitions. _I wish I had been nicer to them._ The last ones he killed were the twins. They were part whitelighter so he made them drink the poison and then watched them die." _The asshole probably laughed the entire time too._

Matt picked up again. "We told Aunt Billie to go into hiding with Leo and then we started making plans for Chris to go back and try and stop whatever happened to Wyatt when he was baby." _We still don't know where Aunt Billie and Uncle Leo are. He probably got to them by now._ "So we sent him back and waited. But we didn't expect him to get Bianca pregnant before he left. She was able to hide it from Wyatt. So a couple months ago he planned to attack them and get Peyton. Bianca went straight away and warned them. Prue was able to get away but when Bianca got back to the underworld she went into labor."

Mel started talking again. _It feels like I'm reliving all this. _"Bianca had a baby girl and Wyatt tried to make a deal with us. Exchange the baby for Peyton. But we didn't. Then, we don't really know how, Bianca was killed."

Matt nodded. "Wyatt just kept saying it was Chris's fault but Chris was in the past so how could it have been his fault? And he also started saying that she had betrayed him. So he began to keep a closer eye on me."

Mel was relieved to be nearing the end. "So yesterday morning Prue and Peyton disappeared and I came here to try and find Chris. Then today Matt came. And we still don't know how to get Chris back or anything really useful." _All we're doing is wasting time._

"That's not true. Before Wyatt stopped trusting me he left me alone with the Book a couple time. So I used a couple of the spells in the book to make a new one. I think if we use the spell and the ring we'll be able to call Chris to us."

* * *

**AN: I know this chapter is a bit longer then usual but I felt like i just needed to get the story out all at once. Hope you enjoy!**

**If you read this that means you're supposed to review!**


	6. Say Anything Else

What Could Have Been

Chapter 5

"Okay. So I used the spell to call the Halliwell matriarch line to add power, the spell to restore someone, the spell to call a witch, and the lost and found spell." _I could have thought of that. _"If the Charmed Ones say the spell and Mel uses the ring to concentrate on Chris and we use Piper and Leo's blood I think there's a pretty good chance of it working." _He's right._

Matt looked at the others for approval. Mel smiled widely and threw her arms around him. "That might actually work! You're a genius!" She quickly kissed him and spun around. "Let's do it. Can we do it now?"

Prue smiled and shrugged. "I guess that would be okay.", she said teasingly. Mel just kept smiling and said, "Okay! Lets's go!" They got all the way up to the attic just for Mel to say, "Wait! We forgot the ingredients!" _I have no idea where to start._

She quickly ran out of the attic to get the ingredients and Matt just sighed and followed her. "She'll probably need help. She tends to drop things when she's over excited." He walked out the door and back down the stairs.

"I haven't seen her this excited since she got here.", said Phoebe. Cole looked after the girl and wondered to himself if she was his. In his heart he knew she wasn't but he could hope, couldn't he?

Piper nodded in agreement and said, "She doesn't really strike me as one of those people that gets excited over nothing. I bet she just wants what's left of her family all in one place."

They all paused and thought about the whole reason Mel was there with them. None of them could really believe it. They could hear her in the kitchen giggling with Matt.

Phoebe said, "You know as unbelievable as this may sound I think that she didn't even tell us the whole story. I think she left some stuff out so we wouldn't get too scared. And it does scare me to think that there are worse things that happened besides all the stuff we already know."

Prue walked over to her youngest sister and wrapped an arm around her. "You don't have to worry about any of that until that time comes, honey. For now just concentrate on being happy with the way things are." In the back of her mind she promised herself she would try to follow her own advice for the next couple months.

They could still hear Mel and Matt laughing downstairs and it made them all smile a little to themselves.

"They've been through so much and lost so much but they're still in love and they still can laugh. I don't know if I could ever move on if one of you died." Phoebe smiles sadly.

Prue shook her head. "You'd be fine. Believe me I know."

"How?"

Piper answered her question. "Because you're Phoebe. You're the one who keeps this family together. You'd be able to get us through anything."

Right then Mel and Matt came bursting into the attic with their arms full of ingredients and flushed faced from laughing so hard. _I don't think we've laughed this hard since...I can't even remember when._

"What's so funny?", said Leo.

"Oh, nothing. We were just talking about when we were little and all the embarrassing things we did. Are you guys ready? I'm gonna mix these all together and then we can start. I have the ring. You guys ready to lose a little blood?" She said to Piper and Leo. Piper just looked a little sick. _Now is not the time to be squeamish, Piper._

"You know in the future you get better with the whole blood thing. Apparently, you guys are gonna have to deal with some pretty bloody situations." _I have no idea why I just said that. Way to freak her out, Mel. _But Piper just nodded and shook her head a little.

After mixing the ingredients Mel sat down on the floor with the metal pot in her lap. The sisters sat in a triangle around her. Matt, Cole, and Leo stood around them._ This had better work or I don't know what I'm going to do next. _She slipped the ring on her finger and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Is that a Cupid's ring?! How did you get that?!" _Now, of all times, she's gonna notice my jewelry?_

"It was a gift," she said to Phoebe. "Can we get on with this already?"

Phoebe didn't look completely convinced but she let it go and began the spell.

"I call forth from space and time,  
The matriarchs from the Halliwell line,  
Mothers, daughters, sisters, friends,  
Our family's spirit without end."

Prue picked up where she left off.

"Guiding spirits I ask your charity  
Lend me your focus and clarity  
Lead to me the one I cannot find  
Restore that and my peace of mind."

Piper was the next to chant.

"Powers of the witches rise  
Course unseen across the skies  
Come to us who call you near  
Come to us and settle here"

Piper pricked her finger and handed the knife to Leo who leaned repeated the action and leaned over her. They held their hands over the pot on Mel's lap and squeezed a drop of blood out each.

"Blood to blood I summon thee  
Blood to blood return to me"

The sisters and Mel chanted the final part. Mel squeezed her eyes shut tighter and thought of Chris. _Chris. When I was 5 and lost my first tooth he told me about the tooth fairy. When we got stuck in school during that snow storm he let me sit on his lap in the cafeteria even though he was in 5__th__ grade and I was in 3__rd__. When he found out me and Matt were going out he wouldn't talk to either of us for 2 weeks. When Mom died he made me stay at the Manor just to make sure I was okay. He's like the brother I never had._

"In this night and in this hour  
I call upon the ancient power  
Bring back my cousin  
Bring back the Power Of Three."

There was a flash of bright white light and the familiar glow of orbs appeared right in front of Mel. The next thing she knew, Chris was laying with his head on her lap and she could see the blood soaking through his shirt. His eyes were shut tight and there was a shiny gleam of sweat across his forehead.

"Dad..." _He wants Leo. He wants Leo to heal him!_

"Leo! Leo! You have to come heal him! Please!"

Leo quickly stepped over Piper and knelt next to Chris. He held his hands over his wound and concentrated. Mel let out a big breathe when she saw the golden glow and the blood receding back to where it had come from.

Chris coughed and slowly took a deep breathe. He sat up and looked around him. "Where am I?" _He hasn't seen me yet. _"Matt? What are you doing here with..." He glanced over at Prue.

"He came here to help me." As soon as Chris turned around to look at her, Mel threw her arms around Chris and squeezed him. "Chris! I missed you so much! Ya' big loser. Did you miss me?" She looked at him expectantly.

He still looked confused. "Yeah, but why am I here? Why are you here. Why are they here?" He whispered the last part to Mel.

Piper raised her eyebrows. "WE live here." _Poor Chris. He doesn't look like he's ready to deal with piper yet._

"Well, I still don't really know why I'm here..." He glanced at Mel. _He's gonna love this._

Mel glanced away. "Chris listen. You know I never would have called you if it wasn't an emergency. Prue and Peyton disappeared this morning. I need your help getting them back."

Matt cut in, "And who hurt you? How was the whole save Wyatt thing going? Did you do it?" _Great. Now he's gonna go all "FUTURE CONSEQUENCES!" on us._

Chris' face immediately changed. Now he looked more pissed then confused. _I think I liked him better before he knew what was going on. _"They know? You told them? What if you screwed up the future, Melinda? What were you thinking?" _Excuse me?_

"Excuse me? The Elders told them I was a Charmed One so they figured I was one of their daughters and then Matt blew what little cover we had left. I mean why do you automatically think I'm the one that told them?"

"Because I know you! You've never been able to keep a secret!" He muttered to himself, "No one in this family can." _Well then you should have been used to it by now, idiot._

Chris replied, "Well do they know who I am?" Mel nodded. "And do they know why I went to the past?" She nodded again. "And did you say that Prue and Peyton disappeared?!" She nodded more exuberantly this time. "But that makes no sense...", he muttered.

Mel wrinkled her nose. "Why?"

Chris looked her in the eyes. "Because I thought I got rid of the threat to Wyatt. I mean that's who killed me."

"Killed you?!" _Doesn't look he just died._

Chris just nodded. "Yeah. I was dead. At least I think I was. I mean I faded away. And dad was there. And Aunt Paige was standing in the doorway and she was crying. And then they were just gone and I was here."

"Who was it?" Leo said.

Chris looked up at Leo. Their eyes met and Chris looked away hurriedly. The last thing he had seen before he ended up here was his dad kneeling next to the bed with his eyes full of tears. "Gideon. He was an Elder when me and Wyatt were babies. He said that he wanted to kill Wyatt for the greater good. That he was too powerful to handle. So he took him. We figured he must have kept him down there for months trying to kill him before the sisters were able to find him and save him. We think that that's what made him separated from the family for the rest of his life." _We got betrayed by an Elder? Leo's an Elder. Or he was._

Me nodded. "But if you fixed the future then we shouldn't be here. We would never have needed to come here in the first place."

Matt said, "Well, how are we going to figure out what went wrong?" _He had better not be thinking what I think he's thinking._

Mel was staring at Matt but turned to look at Chris as he said what she was thinking.

"Someone has to go find out." _Dammit. _

* * *

**AN: Sorry it took me so long to update. I got my permit and I started band camp and I've been working. It's been a hectic week. Haha. I had writer's block too. Wanna know how to help me out with that? Review! Do it. You know you want to... **


	7. Your Guardian Angel

What Could Have Been

Chapter 6

"No! I will not let you go back there. You already died once! Face it, Chris. Maybe this is Fate trying to tell you something. You tried to stop Wyatt from turning. You tried so hard and you failed. Maybe things were supposed to happen this way. Maybe we just weren't supposed to be happy. Piper once told me that as Halliwells we're gifted to be witches but we're cursed to live in only brief moments of happiness. No matter what we always end up losing the ones we love and constantly looking over our shoulders. That's the way it's been ever since Melinda Warren and that's the way it'll be until every last one of us is dead. And maybe this is where we're meant to die. Maybe this is where the line ends. Because as much as I want things to change, I don't think they ever will and I'm sick of trying. I just want to give up. It's been too long, Chris. I miss my parents and I miss my sisters. Do you know I don't even remember the last time I told them I loved them before they died? Everything happens for a reason and maybe Wyatt's reason is to end this family so that we don't have to suffer anymore. All I know is that I'm sick of running away and I'm just sick of life in general. This is it, Chris. I'm done."

Mel turned around and went down the stairs. Everyone looked at one another in stunned silence. Matt moved to go after her but Phoebe put her hand on his arm. "No, I'll go." She slowly walked out of the attic and down the stairs.

"Is she always that intense?"

Chris looked at Cole and rolled his eyes.

Matt answered for him. "Wouldn't you be intense if you had to watch everybody in your family die over and over again in your dreams?"

Piper snapped her head towards Prue. "That's horrible. She's only 20. No wonder she has that look in her eyes."

Prue nodded. Chris turned to look and Piper and said, "What look?"

Prue responded, "The haunted look. Like she's been through more then you could possibly imagine but she doesn't say a word about it."

"I've never noticed that before." He replied.

Matt said, "She's an empath and has premonition. She's been able to see and feel everyone else's emotions for as long as she can remember. She thinks it's her job to just handle it. There's no one else who would really understand. Except for Phoebe."

* * *

Phoebe looked all over the house for Mel. She started on the second floor, looking in all the bedrooms but couldn't find her. Then she went downstairs and peeked into the kitchen and living room. She even stuck her head into the basement . After that she went back to the living room and sunk onto the couch with a sigh. She had only been sitting there a minute when she heard a thump on the roof and knew where Mel was. 

She ran up the steps, into her room and over to her window. She could see Mel sitting on the rooftop over the front door. Phoebe silently climbed through and then over the white trellis to sit besides her daughter.

"Hey."

Mel just looked across the street at the neighboring houses. The sun was just starting to go down and the sky was all sorts of shades of pink, blue and orange.

"You know that's the house where the shape shifters lived. They pretended to be our dad and tried to get the book out of the house."

Mel just nodded her head slightly. _I know._

They sat in silence for a minute before Phoebe said, "You know I've lived in this room for my entire life. When I was a teenager I would climb out of the window on the other side of my room. Prue would always yell at me when I got home and ask me how I could be so irresponsible but she never once told on me. I never knew why."

Mel just nodded again. _I know._

"You know I still can't believe Piper and Leo got married. It seemed like it was never going to happen. I mean the Elders pretty much did all they could to keep them apart." _I know._

Phoebe looked around the street letting the one sided conversation pause before deciding to try another way. "So how long have you and Matt been going out?"

Mel glanced back at Phoebe but made sure not to make eye contact with her. "About 4 years. We've been on and off. Lately it's just been too hectic to be together so we're on a break."

Phoebe laughed. "You guys are on a break right now? Wow. It doesn't seem like it."

Mel nodded and added, "We know each other too well to ever be completely broken up. Even when we're not together we're not really apart. We're just not as together as usual." _I wish we were together. _

Phoebe nodded and smiled sadly. "Me and Cole aren't together at all in the future are we?"

Mel squinted her eyes against the shine of the sun and slightly shook her head. Phoebe drew her knees up against her chest and wrapped her eyes around them. She tilted her head and rested it on her knees so that she was looking at Mel.

"You know we went back in the past a couple months ago to the time of Melinda Warren and it was Halloween night and there was this guy that said he could tell me my true love's initial and it was C. It made me think that Cole was it. He was really the one. I guess I was stupid to believe that he was right. I've always been the most gullible one in this family."

Mel looked away from Phoebe and let herself smile. _Hmmm. C? That's ironic._

"You're not stupid. Everyone is gullible when it comes to love. Especially in this family. We all hope, even if we deny it, that we'll find someone that we can fall completely in love with. Someone that will be there for us and never hurt us or leave us and always take care of us. But when you love someone–when you let yourself love someone–you open yourself up to be hurt. And they always hurt you. But you just have to figure out if they love you more then they hurt you. If they do then it's completely worth it."

Phoebe just grinned at her. "Spoken like someone whose in love. You know you really remind me of someone I once met. A Cupid."

Mel looked away and grinned again. _If only you knew._

This time the silence wasn't as awkward.

"So you've known Matt since you were a kid?"

Mel nodded. "He was best friends with Wyatt for years. He was a year younger but they grew up together. Some of my first memories were of me and him playing cats and dogs and extreme hide and go seek with my cousins. We never really went through the whole cooties thing but we did grow apart a little when he was in high school and I wasn't. Then when he was a senior and I was a freshmen he really helped me out with school and everything. And we just kept getting closer when he was away at college. We talked almost every night on the phone and he would sing songs to me from the 20's."

"Really? I don't even know any songs from the 20's."

"Well that would make sense since you're barely in them. I meant like 2000 to 2009. Those are the 20's to us. We're in the 20-20's right now. Get it?"

Phoebe nodded. "So how did you start going out?"

Mel smiled. "The songs he sang to me started changing. They went from funny songs to these really sappy love songs. I think he thought I would think he was joking but I knew. I had a crush on him by the time I was done my freshman year. Then near the end of my junior year right after I turned 17 we got together."

"And how did Wyatt take that?"

Mel frowned and replied, "Him and Matt sort of...grew apart after everything happened when I was 12. It didn't seem like he really cared. You know I always hoped inside me that he would be really pissed off. Because then he would at least be showing some emotion or at least letting me know that he still cared about me in some way. But I guess he didn't."

Phoebe nodded. They both had their knees pulled to their chests and their heads resting on top. The sun had disappeared completely behind the houses across the street before one of them broke the silence.

"You know your whole relationship with Cole...it's not pointless or anything. Don't think that just because it's not going to work out that means you should give up. I think that if it hadn't been for Cole all of your other relationships never would have gone as far as they did. He was your first real love I think but he definitely won't be your last. So even if things get crappy just remember it's all going to work out for the better. I mean after all you got me."

They looked at each other and grinned.

"You know for being my daughter you're not half bad."

"That's what people tell me.

Neither of them talked for awhile but now they were more comfortable with each other and the silence wasn't at all weird. Mel was the first one to say anything.

"I guess I better go tell Chris and Matt that they were right. Someone's going to have to go to the future and see what happened that made things stayed screwed up." She sighed and looked down.

Phoebe just nodded. "I have this weird feeling that everything is going to work out for you. I think things might start to turn around now. I mean how much worse could they get?"

Mel stiffened besides Phoebe. _You should never say that. Everyone knows that if you say that things will get worse._

"What's wrong, honey?"

Mel shook her head. "Nothing. Nothing at all. Come on. Let's go inside."

* * *

They went back up to the attic to where everyone else was. No one mentioned Mel's outburst but instead just went about trying to figure out what to do. 

"Okay, so we know someone has to go to the future and see what's going on but who should it be?" said Matt. _Me. I should go._

"I'll do it." said Mel.

Chris looked at her like she was crazy. "What?! No way! I should go. I've already been there and they already know me. You don't even have an active power to defend yourself, Melinda."

Mel raised her eyebrows at her cousin. "Excuse me. You know I can hold my own in any fight you want to throw me in. I am not weak. And I can freeze. That's an active power. The whole 'Protect Mel' thing has really gotten old, Chris. Now stop being an ass and just accept the fact that I'm going."

Chris rolled his eyes. _"I know what you're thinking buddy and thanks. I am being a stubborn bitch. But then again so are you." _Chris smiled a little. _"Now you stop being stubborn and just let me go. You already got yourself killed once. It's my turn to try now." _Chris nodded.

"Okay. You can go. But you have to be really careful. And you have to promise to not get yourself killed. And could you tell dad and Aunt Paige that I'm alright. And that I'm in a...better place." _Cause that's not corny at all._

Everyone except for Matt was looking at Chris. None of them knew why he had suddenly changed his mind and decided he would let Mel go.

Prue just shook her head and said, "Whatever. If you are going then I think we should wait until tomorrow for you to go. It's already night and it didn't really seem like you got much sleep last night. So rest up tonight and then we'll send you first thing tomorrow morning." _I didn't really want to wait but I guess it wouldn't be too bad if I got a little sleep first. _

Mel just nodded her head and said "Okay."

Then Prue said, "Okay, so Mel can sleep in my room with me and the guys can sleep in the living room okay?" _Damn. _Everyone nodded in agreement and went to their separate rooms and went to bed.

Two hours later Mel was laying in bed staring at the ceiling. She couldn't toss and turn because she didn't want to wake Prue up. She sighed angrily and rolled over onto her stomach. Concentrating on Matt she squeezed her eyes shut.

"_Psstt. Are you awake? I can't sleep."_

"_Yeah. I'm awake. I can't sleep either. Wanna go somewhere?"_

Mel didn't even bother answering. She glowed down to the living room and landed next to Matt. He was laying on the armchair and Chris was stretched out on the couch snoring slightly with his mouth open.

Mel smiled at Matt and grabbed his arm. He shimmered them out of the living room and they ended up at P3. They sat on two of the bar stools and faced each other.

"Are you nervous?" asked Matt.

"No, why would I be nervous?"

Matt grinned at her and leaned forward. "Because I know you and you always get nervous when you know you have to do a big spell." _He knows me too well._

"Okay, so maybe I'm a little nervous. But I just don't want to screw anything up, you know?"

Matt nodded and grabbed her hand. "You'll be fine." He looked her in the eyes and said, "There's something I've been meaning to ask you, Mel. I know we're not really going out right now and it sucks but I still need to say this."

She squinted at him. _He had better not be about to do what I think he's gonna do._

Matt breathed in deeply and continued, "I love you, Mel and it kills me that these past couple years have been such a bitch to us but I think we're really meant to be together. Like in the forever kind of way." _And of course he is._

Mel smiled slightly and said, "What exactly are you trying to say, Matt?"

He closed his eyes slightly and Mel knew he was trying not to get frustrated with her. _Knowing him, he already knows I know._

"What I'm trying to say is that I want to get married. I want to fight with you and be the father of your children and get old and wrinkly with you and end up in some nursing home in rocking chairs still arguing like we do now." _At least he actually said he wanted to get married this time. Last time all he did was hand me a ring and say 'wanna get hitched?'_ _Then that demon came in and I never had a chance to answer him._

Mel laughed. "You know, I think that can be arranged, Mattie."

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me Mattie?"

Mel just raised her eyebrows at him and waited for it to sink in.

"Wait! Was that a yes?"

She nodded at him and gave him a look. _Of all the times to be slow._

He grinned and leaned over and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tilted her head to deepen the kiss. His hands were running up and down her sides and giving her the chills. She laughed against his mouth and stood up.

"You mind not tickling me?"

Matt wrinkled his eyebrows and said, "Wait, what? Did you just say that you're ticklish? Well I never knew that."_ Yes he did. What is he talking about? O, crap. Never mind._

"You know, I might just have to explore this new developement."

"Matt...don't even think about it."

He just grinned and started tickling her stomach. She tried to get away from him but he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her closer. She dropped to the floor in hope that she would be able to get away from him. He just rolled on top of her kept tickling her. She was laughing so hard her eyes were starting to tear up.

"Matt! Matthew! Stop it. I can't breathe!" She tried to keep protesting but got too out of breath from talking and laughing at the same time.

All of the sudden he stopped tickling her and kissed her hard on the mouth. She gladly responded by opening her mouth and wrapping her arms around his neck. _At least I can breathe now._

His hands slid under her shirt and slowly started to pull it up. _He's such a man._

She broke off from him and said, "Oh, I see why you took me here now. You just wanted to get lucky."

He grinned and kissed her again. She tilted her head back so she could keep talking. "You're just using me." He kissed her neck. "This is just your way of working out all your tension." He moved down her neck to her collarbone. "I see how it is. You know I'll remember this."

He stopped kissing her and rested his forehead against hers. "Mel, I swear to god, if you don't shut up..."

"What? What are you going to do about it?" _Probably not the best thing to say._

He grinned wickedly and started tickling her again.

* * *

**I have a couple ideas in my head right now so if you feel the urge to review and tell me what you think or in what direction it should go...don't fight it. ;-)**


	8. What Are You Looking For

What Could Have Been

Chapter 7

**AN: Sorry it took me so long to update. I went to Projekt Revolution (AMAZING!) and then to my friend's shore house and then this week was like party central because schools starting again. I also read Eclipse, the sequel to Twilight and New Moon and that was soooo good. I still have a little bit of writer's block so sorry if it takes me longer to update.**

"Okay. Let's get this over with," said Chris.

Everyone was gathered in the attic. Prue was flipping through the book looking for a spell to send Mel to the future but she was having a hard time.

"There's no spell in here to go to the future. I wish I could remember the one from last year. I'm not even sure that would work because it brings you to your future self and you don't want to go that far into the future. I guess we could write one."

Mel paced around the attic. _This is not good. I just want to go to the future so I can get back. _She spun the ring on her finger around as she thought about what to do. Chris looked over and noticed what she was doing and rolled his eyes.

"Or you could look at what's right in front of you."

"What?"

He rolled his eyes again. "The ring. Did you forget you have it or something? Why can't you just use that again. I mean that is how you got here right?" _I actually did forget about it. I'm not used to carrying it around with me._

Mel nodded and said, "I did but I think it might be broken or something."

Chris rolled his eyes again and shook his head slightly. "It's not a cell phone, Mel. It can't be broken. It's Cupid's ring."

"I know what it is, Chris!" _He's is such a sarcastic idiot. _"Believe me, I know. But when I tired to use it to find you I was concentrating on you and I still ended up here. How did that happen if it's not screwed up?"

"You probably just lost your concentration and thought about one of them at the last minute" He gestured towards the sisters. "You know you were never one to keep your mind on one thing for any amount of time. You'd always start a project and get bored 10 minutes later and start something else." _I should have let him die. Asshole. _

Mel looked at him in disbelief and was just about to say something when Matt cut in. "Guys, stop fighting. You're both being idiots. Chris, shut up and Mel, just use the ring and get back here as fast as you can."

Chris added, "Try and figure out where I went wrong. And if you can try and fix it. And don't forget to tell them that I miss them."

Mel just nodded and squeezed her eyes shut._ I wasn't expecting this to happen so fast. I thought I would have time to talk to Matt while everyone was working on getting the spell ready. I guess it's too late now._

* * *

Mel appeared in a pink glow and saw that she was still in the attic. Right away she could see she was alone. Her eyebrows wrinkled and she looked around in confusion. _That's new. The least they could have done was be up here when I got here. Not that they knew. _

She walked out of the attic and onto the second floor.

"Hello? Is anyone home?"

Her question was met by silence as she checked all the bedrooms and walked downstairs. _Okay what the hell? Where is everyone? Shouldn't they have some sort of witch intuition telling them someone's in their house? _She checked all the rooms downstair and saw that no one was there either.

"I guess they're not home..."

She plopped down on the armchair in the living room and sighed. _I guess I just have to wait for them to get back._ She sighed and tilted her head back.

* * *

A demon shimmered into the attic not even a minute after Mel had disappeared. He was all black with red eyes and razor sharp teeth. Phoebe's eyes widened as she yelled, "Demon! Demon in the attic!" She went to kick him but look over at Matt and said, "You guys don't know each other do you? He's not your brother or something right?" 

Matt just made a face at her and said, "No." Phoebe turned and went to kick the demon but he had already moved out of the way and was going towards Chris.

He threw out his hand and sent a fire ball at the young witch. Chris dodged out of the way and moved his hand to throw the demon across the room. He twisted in midair and threw another fire ball at Matt before crashing into the wall. Matt easily deflected it and looked over at Chris.

The demon got up quickly and started to go after Chris again but Piper froze him before he could make it very far.

Prue said, "Let's hurry and find out what he is. We don't know how long he's going to stay frozen for." Chris rolled his eyes and waved his arm to make a crystal cage around the demon.

"Or, you could just do that." Prue said.

Piper sighed and went to look in the Book of Shadows.

* * *

Mel had just began to doze when the sound of the front door opening startled her awake. She shot up and went to see who it was. _Jesus Christ. Way to scare the crap out of me. _

"Phoebe, if you want to go to Hawaii with Coop then go. You never went on your honeymoon anyway. Leo and I can watch the baby. It'll be fine."

"But Piper you're pregnant and you have Wyatt and Chris. And Chris is still in his terrible twos phase. I don't want to leave you with more work to do."

"Don't worry about it. I have Leo. And you know Paige and Henry will help. They love the kids."

Mel peered around the corner to see Piper pulling the stroller with Chris in it through the door and Phoebe watching her. They stopped in the foyer as Wyatt came in right behind the stroller and immediately looked at Mel.

"Mommy," he said tugging on Piper's pants.

"Hold on a minute Wyatt. Mommy's talking." _He looks frustrated._

The small boy sighed and Mel smiled to herself. He looked up at Mel again and tilted his head to the side. _It's like he knows who I am. I wouldn't put it past him._

"I really think you should go, Pheebs. I mean you do deserve it. You've been working all year on top of a new marriage and being pregnant and then having the baby. You never even took maternity–Wyatt! I told you about interrupting. It's not polite. You have to wait your turn to talk."

Wyatt rolled his eyes and let go of Piper's pant leg. He looked at Mel. She smiled at him and was relieved when he smiled back at her. _At least he doesn't think I'm a demon. _She stuck her tongue out at him and he giggled and copied her.

Phoebe looked down at the sound of Wyatt's laugh and grinned. She ruffled his hair and continued her conversation with Piper. "Why would I need to take maternity leave? I can work from home anytime I want to. You know it doesn't bother Elise as long as I meet my deadline." _Wait. I guess that means she just had me. And Piper is pregnant with Prue. _She looked at Piper's rounded stomach.

Mel crossed her eyes at Wyatt and laughed silently when he copied her.

Piper just nodded and said, "Phoebe. You're going. And you're gonna have a good time and be stress free and not worry about work or the baby. Elise won't mind you taking off for a week and Mel will be safe with us." _He is so adorable._

She scrunched up her nose and squinted her eyes at the small boy and grinned as he followed her lead.

Phoebe bit her lip before she nodded in compliance. Piper nodded back before bending over and picking Wyatt up. "Now what's up little man?"

He just giggles and pointed at Mel who was leaning against the doorframe.

Piper and Phoebe snapped their attention to Mel. Both of their eyes widened before Piper said, "Who the hell are you?"

* * *

After looking through the Book of Shadows twice and not finding anything Chris decided that the only way to figure out who sent this demon was to make it tell them. 

"So it seemed like the demon only came after me and Matt. We need to find out who sent him so we'll torture him into telling us who sent him and then we vanquish him and go after his master. How does that sound?" In the back of his mind he already suspected someone.

Prue and Piper exchanged looks and then shifted their gazes back to Chris. Leo was the first one to say something though. "Torture demons a lot in your time?"

Chris just raised his eyebrows and said, "Yeah. If it needs to be done. Why? Got a problem with that?"

Prue shook her head slightly and responded, "No but we haven't really had much experience...in that area."

Piper interrupted and said, "How exactly do you plan on torturing him?"

Chris shrugged and said, "I don't know. We could blow off his limbs one by one or something along those lines." The sisters looked at him like he was crazy. Chris looked back at them in confusion.

Matt though, _"I don't think she has that power yet, Chris."_ The witchlighter nodded in agreement and sighed. Now they had to think of some other way to torture him.

"I guess we could make that potion to torture him. Or we could get a knife or something and cut off his fingers one by one."

Phoebe's eyes widened. "Orrrrr, we could always just ask him who sent him."

Chris' nose wrinkled as he said, "Yeah. That's a great plan. I'm sure all demons are completely willing to give up information to the people they were sent to kill."

She just shook her head and turned to Piper. "Unfreeze him and see if he'll talk."

Her older sister turned towards the crystal cage and waved her hand to unfreeze the demon. Phoebe walked over and said, "Who sent you?"

The demon just laughed at her and replied, "Why should I tell you?"

"Because if you don't we'll torture you and then we'll kill you. Slowly."

Everyone looked at Chris with surprise on their faces except for Matt. They hadn't really thought Chris was really the torturing type but Matt knew otherwise. Chris was more like Wyatt then he liked to think. He did what had to be done. The only difference was that Chris did it for ultimately good reasons while Wyatt did it for power.

The demon just grinned and replied. "It's not like it matters if you know who sent me. It's not like you could ever defeat him. He's more powerful then you could ever hope to be. It won't be long before he comes for you himself and as soon as he does you're dead.

Prue stepped closer to the demon and waved her hand to send the anthame spinning into his hand. He cried out and went to remove it but she waved her hand and it flew out on it's own. She let it hover there threateningly as she leaned over and said, "Who sent you?"

The demon just laugh and looked at Chris suspicions weree confirmed in his head. He meant to whispere to himself but Matt heard him. "Wyatt."

* * *

Mel grinned at her mother and her aunt. _I can't wait to see mom's face when she realizes I'm who her baby grows up to be. That sounded a lot weirder then I thought I would. _

"Hi. Listen I'm not here to hurt you. I just need your help with something." _And now they both think I'm completely nuts. Do I tell them who I am now or later? _She looked at the two astounded women before her._ Now would probably be better._

"You know me. You just haven't realized it yet. We're actually related. My name is Mel."

Phoebe looked at her intensely. Mel saw something shift in her mother's eyes and grinned to herself. Phoebe muttered, "Mel. Short for Melinda, right?"

Mel nodded and glanced at Piper. Her aunt's eyes hadn't completely lost their suspicion but she wasn't looking nearly as hostile anymore."So that means you're Phoebe's...daugter."

Mel nodded eagerly. "Yep. And I need your help." The two older women exchanged glances and she saw the look of agreement pass between them.

Phoebe said cautiously, "With what?"

"Do you remember Chris? Do you remember when he died?"

Mel watched their expressions and saw the pain that briefly passed over their faces. _They're going to be so happy when they find out he didn't really die. Or at least isn't dead anymore._

"Well he never really died. I summoned him and he appeared and Leo was able to heal him in time. _Now they look downright astonished. Maybe I do like this whole time travel thing. Some peoples' reactions are just too good to pass up._

Phoebe grinned and said excitedly, "He's alive. He's okay?" Piper was grinning too. Mel nodded and smiled back at them. "But then why do you need our help?" Phoebe continued.

Mel's grin faded as she said, "Well, I went into the past to find Chris and I went a little too far back so I had to summon him. He told us that he had died right when you were fighting with Gideon over Wyatt." She glanced at the small boy in Piper's arms. "He thought that he had done it. That he had saved Wyatt. But if he had we should have gone back to our own time and we never did. So I came here to fix it and save Wyatt." _He sure doesn't look evil. But then again he never did until after everything happened. _

Piper and Phoebe exchanged glances. Piper was the one that spoke. "But we vanquished Gideon. Almost 3 years ago. He didn't have Wyatt for too long and he was fine when we got him back."

Mel looked at them in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Piper and Phoebe exchanged glances again before Piper said, "Chris did succeed."

Mel felt her face fall. _Then why isn't anything different? What did we do that we can't just be happy? _

* * *

**AN: So I'm thinking of having more time travel and maybe involving the kids soon. Tell me what you think. Review!**


	9. Note To Self

What Could Have Been

**AN: I started school last Thursday. It might take me a little longer to update now with all my homework. Saving all the fun classes for senior may seem like a good idea until you start junior year and realize you have no idea what's going on.**

Chapter 7

"What do you mean Wyatt?!" Matt almost yelled at Chris.

"He must have found us.", replied Chris in almost a whisper. The sisters exchanged glances before they all looked back at Chris. He had a far away look in his eyes. Like he was caught up in a memory that none of them could even imagine.

Matt snapped his fingers in front of Chris' eyes to snap him out of it. Chris' whole body jerked and he snapped his head towards Matt.

"What?" Chris said. Matt looked at him hesitantly.

"What are we going to do? About Wyatt."

Chris sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know what to do. I don't know what we can do. If there's even anything we can do. Maybe it's pointless to even try."

Phoebe shook her head. "Wait. What exactly will Wyatt do if he finds you? I mean you're his brother. Would he really hurt you?"

Chris spun around and glared at her. "Did you listen to anything we told you?! Wyatt doesn't care that we're brothers. All he cares about is power. He'll do anything to get it. He'll kill anyone that gets in his way. Even if it is his own family. Me and Mel and Prue are the only ones left. Do you really think he'll stop now? He won't. He will never stop. You have no idea how bad this is."

Leo and Cole looked at each other as the sisters glanced at each other again. Cole was the first one to say anything. "Could the Power of Three beat him?"

Chris looked at him and then at Matt and said, "No. Believe me. We tried."

They were all quiet for a minute. Suddenly the demon screamed and disappeared in flames. Everyone looked at each other in surprise.

"Guess he was in a hurry to get out fo here." said Prue.

Chris grimaced and said, "Wyatt must know we got him. He'll send more next time."

Piper replied, "When will there be a next time? Soon?"

Chris shrugged and didn't say anything so Matt answered for him. "It depends. If Wyatt thinks we're a big threat then they'll be more-a lot more- coming soon. If he's not too worried about us then he'll wait."

"Cause that's not nerve wracking or anything."

Chris smiled a little at Phoebe and replied, "That's how it is in the future. We're constantly on guard. Always looking over our shoulders. It can be a little frustrating but you get used to it."

The sister's just stared at him. "Okay. That sounded worse then I meant it to."

Prue looked at him and said, "Anyway. What should we do? About the whole Wyatt situation?"

Chris opened his mouth to reply but was cut off as a gray portal opened on the wall and two figures came through.

Phoebe yelled, "Demons!" She went to run towards her but Matt grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back. "Wait!"

Phoebe struggled and yelled, "What are you doing? Let me down! There are demons!"

Piper stepped forward and said, "Pheebs, I don't think they're demons."

* * *

Mel stared at the two women staring before her. She was trying to compose herself but she could feel herself starting to panic. _Okay. Okay. Calm down. It's not that big of a deal. I'll just go back and we can fix this. This can be fixed. It was a long shot coming here anyway. _She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breathe. 

When she opened them she found Phoebe staring at her understandingly. She let all her breathe out in a sigh. _Damn empathy._ Chris started to fidget in his stroller and she immediately bent down and unbuckled him. She lifted him out and settled him on her hip. _He's a lot heavier then Peyton is. _

"So nothing changed even though we did stop Gideon from getting to Wyatt?"

Mel answered Piper saying, "Yeah. At least I don't think so. All I know is the last time I was in my time Wyatt was as evil as ever. Something else must have gone wrong." _I have to go back. _

"I have to go back. Now."

Piper looked like she was going to argue but Phoebe cut her off saying, "Don't Piper. She really does have to go back."

Piper looked at Phoebe with a confused stare while Mel just gave her a grateful look. _Thank god I have an empath for my mother._

"Sorry to have bothered you. Don't worry about anything. I'm sure it's just a technical difficulty. It'll all be worked out eventually."

She handed Chris to Piper and took a deep breath. She went to close her eyes as she grasped the ring but Phoebe interrupted her before she could concentrate.

"Wait. Will you come back when everything is fixed. Just so we know that things turned out okay. That we didn't do everything for nothing."

Piper looked at her feet and added, "That we didn't lose Chris for nothing."

Mel was silent for a minute. "You didn't lose him. He's never been gone." She hesitated before continuing, "I'll be back." _Except if I don't make it back._

She ran her finger over the pink stone on the ring and closed her eyes.

* * *

As soon as Phoebe stopped struggling Matt let her down gently and stepped back. He stared at who had just come through the attic wall. An older girl and a small child who couldn't be more then 2 or 3. The older one was carrying a bundle of blankets in her arms and looking around the room with interest. Her eyes flashed to everyone on the attic before settling on Chris. 

Chris stepped closer and stared at the girl. She was tall with long dark hair. Her blue eyes held Chris's gaze for a minute before she smiled smugly and looked down next to her. The little girl had slightly curly pale blond hair and was staring up at her with a confused look on her face.

"You okay, Pay?"

The little girl's face visibly relaxed and she nodded slowly before turning her gaze to look at everyone else. Her eyes were the same color as the older girls. After looking at everyone she finally saw Chris.

"Uncle Chris!", she yelled and ran towards him. He bent down a little to catch her as she jumped up on him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed. He hugged her back and then settled her on his hip. He turned his attention back to the older girl.

They stared at each other for another minute before stepping forward at the same time and embracing. The sisters watched in interest as the girl held the bundle she was carrying away from Chris. Finally they let go of each other and stepped back.

"What is that? How did you get here? Mel said Wyatt took you guys. How did you get away?!"

The girl just smiled and said, "I'm amazing like that. But we can talk about that later. We have more important things to talk about." She glanced down at what she was carrying. "So I'm guessing Mel told you all about Bianca and her little problem, right?"

Chris raised his eyebrows. "What problem?"

Prue rolled her eyes as she said, "You know. The one she had for about 9 months after you left."

Piper looked at Leo and smiled a little. Mel had told them that Chris didn't know. He was going to be shocked when he got this news.

Chris nose wrinkled as he said, "9 months...you mean she was... And you didn't tell me?!"

"How were we supposed to tell you?! We had no idea where you were. Plus you were trying to fix this mess. We didn't want to bother you."

Chris shook his head. "So you're telling me that my girlfriend- no, my fiancé - was pregnant and you decided it wasn't important enough to find me and tell me?" He thought about it for a second before quietly saying, "Wait. If it's been more then 9 months then she had it right? Is that what that is?" He gestured to the bundle in the girl's arms.

She just looked at him and handed it to him. They passed Peyton so that she was now with the older girl. Chris held it a little bit away from him before slowly unwrapping the blanket to reveal a baby with tan skin and a puff of dark hair on it's head. It's eyes were closed and it's mouth parted in a peaceful sleep.

"I put a spell on her to make her sleep so she wouldn't get upset and blow our cover. She should wake up in an hour or two."

Chris just continued to stare at the baby girl. "A girl. I have a daughter." He glance up at the girl. "How old is she? What's her name? Is she healthy?"

The girl answered, "She's almost 4 months. She's was born a little premature and is a little underweight but she is perfectly healthy. Wyatt has just been calling her Phoenix."

He nodded absentmindedly and cradled the baby in his right arm. He brought his left hand up to stroke her cheek. "Phoenix? Isn't that a boy name? And a bird?"

"Well I guess it's because of Bianca. And it fits with the whole P thing, you know?"

He nodded again and muttered, "Phoenix." Then he carefully unwrapped the blanket all the way and gently pulled her left arm out. He turned it over so he could see the bottom and traced the bird shaped symbol on her arm.

"Bianca's was red.", he stated referring to the light brown color of the picture. "Her's almost looks like a birthmark."

The girl replied, "I think it's because she's only half Phoenix. She'll probably be able to flame out like Bianca was. But she'll also most likely have a lot of Charmed powers as well. She's going to be strong. Just like her parents."

Chris looked at the other small girl and said, "How has she been? Is she doing okay?"

The girl nodded and said, "Pretty much. She's missed you. When Wyatt took us she got really scared because they split us up. But she just kept screaming until they finally gave her back to me."

Chris said, "But how did you escape?"

Prue cut in before they could get her reply. "Wait a minute. Before we go into all these details do you think we could clear some stuff up first. If that's Peyton then you have to be Prue right?"

She nodded. "Yep. The one and only." She thought about it a second before continuing, "Actually I guess that's not completely true in this time." She looked at Matt. "Hey, Matt. Where the hell have you been loser?"

He grinned at her. "You know I've really missed you, you slut. I think Wyatt was catching on to me and had someone tailing me. So I had to avoid you guys for awhile. When I came back you were gone and there was a note on the front door telling me where Mel had gone. Then I followed her here."

Chris said to Prue, "So, what happened to you two?"

She sighed and said, "Mel went out for milk. Not even 10 minutes after she left these demons shimmered in and took me and Peyton down there to Wyatt. He was keeping us in some magic proof chamber but I was able to get into the guard's mind and get him to undo the spell. Then I got Peyton to summon the baby and we said the spell to come to you. It was really a lot easier then I thought it was going to be. How are things going where you came from? Why are you even here? Where's Mel?"

"I thought I removed the threat to Wyatt. I figured out who it was but he stabbed me before I could get him. I thought that everything would change once I figured it out but nothing did. I mean Wyatt's still evil right? Mel came here after she realized what happened to you and summoned me. When we figured out nothing had changed she went to the future to see what did happen."

Young Prue nodded and sighed. "This is such a mess. Can nothing be simple in our lives?"

Chris just laughed and shook his head.

"Have you been around all these years?"

Prue made a face at him and turned to look at everyone else in the attic. "So where are we in time? What's been going on with all of you?'

They all looked at each other before Phoebe grinned and said, "Piper and Leo got married yesterday!"

The surprise was apparent on Prue's face but she quickly covered it up by saying, "Wow! I was not expecting that."

Chris muttered, "Yeah. Neither was I."

Suddenly Peyton giggled and said, "Aunt Mel."

Prue looked at her and said, "We'll see Aunt Mel soon, honey. Okay?"

Peyton shook her head. "No. Aunt Mel. Where she? Here soon."

Prue sighed and said, "Yeah. She's going to see some people who might be able to help us? You have to be a good girl until she comes back, okay? She'll be so proud of you when she gets back. She might even give you a present!"

Peyton leaned back and laughed. "Yay yay yay yay yay! Presents! Soon."

Prue grinned and said to Chris, "How long ago did she leave?"

Matt responded for him, "She didn't leave that long ago. Maybe an hour. I don't know when she'll be back. I guess it depends on how bad things are in the future."

Prue nodded and said, "I guess all we can do now is wait."

* * *

When Mel opened her eyes she wasn't where she expected. She was in the sunroom but so was what looked like everyone else in the family. _Grams and Grandma are here. So are Mom, Dad, the aunts and uncles. There's Wyatt and Chris. _She saw two young boys being passed around between everyone. _And Wyatt and Chris again? When is this?_

Everyone was going around hugging and laughing. _They look so happy._ Mel waited for someone to notice her but nobody did. Chris looked straight at her but didn't even say anything. _They must not be able to see me. That's weird. I didn't even try to come here._

She looked closer at Wyatt. He was laughing and smiling along with everyone else. He was happy. And more importantly he looked good. Better then she had ever remembered him looking. _There isn't an evil thought in his entire body. Chris did get it done. This is how things stay. _

Suddenly she felt herself being pulled away from this scene. She closed her eyes. _Okay, now I'm going back. _The pull stopped and she opened her eyes with a smile on her face. It quickly faded as she saw a different scene then the one she was expecting.

Phoebe was sitting at the glass table in the sunroom. There was a baby in a baby carrier on the ground next to her. Phoebe's foot was on the carrier and was gently rocking it as the baby slept. _Hey, that's me. _Wyatt came running into the room quickly followed by Chris. Wyatt looked like he was about 4 and Chris looked like he was about 3.

"Shhh. Don't wake up the baby, guys." They both stopped running and slowly tiptoed through the room. As soon as the reached the doorway they started running again. They went up the stairs quickly, laughing the entire way. Phoebe grinned and shook her head a little.

"Aunt Phoebe! Aunt Phoebe! Aunt Phoebe! Aunt Phoebe!"

Phoebe looked up with a concerned look on her face as the boys came sprinting back down the stairs. She ran to meet them and bent down to their level. "What is it?! What's wrong?!"

They were both out of breath and tried to explain as fast as they could. Between them trying to talk over one another and Chris's inability to pronounce his r's and l's Mel didn't get much of what they were saying_"_

"Mommy...water...said...ouchy...mommy...boo boo...baby coming!"

_Well I understood that part. _Apparently Phoebe did too because she went running up the stairs yelling at the boys, "Stay here and call your daddy. I'll be right back. Watch the baby for me, okay?" She disappeared up the stairs before they could answer her.

Wyatt and Chris looked at each other for a minute with wide eyes before yelling together, "DADDYYYY!!" The baby woke up with a start and began to cry. The boys looked at her and yelled again, "DADDY!"

Leo orbed in saying, "Boys, you know when Daddy's working you're not supposed to call him unless it's an emergency."

"It is! Aunt Phoebe said to call you. The baby's coming!", Wyatt almost yelled. Chris nodded urgently in agreement. _This is when Piper had Prue. This is only a couple of months after where I was at first._

Leo's eyes widened and he said, "What?!" He quickly bent down like Phoebe had and said to them, "Okay. Can you guys do something for me?" The boys nodded solemnly. "I need you to stay down here with the baby for a couple minutes while I go make sure Mommy is okay. You be good boys and take care of your cousin." He quickly kissed them both on their foreheads and orbed away.

The boys looked at each other before sitting next to the baby carrier. Chris put his hand on the edge and started rocking it while Wyatt leaned over and tickled the baby. "Shhh. Don't cry. Everything is going to be okay, baby."

Chris copied his brother, saying, "Baby don cry. It okay." The baby began to settle down as they continued rocking her._ I don't remember Wyatt ever being like this for me when I was older._

She felt the tug again and she closed her eyes. _Maybe this time I'll be back. _Everything stopped and she opened her eyes a little. She looked through eyelids and sighed before opening them all the way.

It was Halloween. There was a giant bowl of candy on the table by the door and posters of black cats, witched, werewolves, and vampires all over. _They are all so stereotypical. Vampires do not look like that at all. Or witches._

Piper came walking out of the kitchen with a plate of cookies on them. _Ooo. I miss Aunt Piper's cookies. _Leo followed her with a big bowl of popcorn. They placed them on the dining room table, which Mel noticed was filled with other food.

Paige came through the door next. She waddles slowly through the room and into the living room. _Oh, my god. She is huge. _She sank slowly onto the armchair and breathed out. "Whew. I cannot wait until I get this baby out of me. I don't remember being this big when I was pregnant with the twins."

Piper responded saying, "That's a little ironic don't you think? It's sort of funny. In a way."

Paige just glared at her._ I do remember them saying Henry was a big baby. The biggest out of all of us. And he came late too. _

Before Paige could say anything back to Piper what sounded like a stampede started form upstairs. _What the hell is that? _Suddenly all the kids came running down the stairs. Some of them went into the dining room to the food. Some went into the living with Paige and Piper.

Leo, who was standing at the foot of the stairs, grinned at Coop and he came down carrying a small girl no older then 2 and in a pumpkin costume in his arms. _That's Bree. _

"I think whoever invented candy and whoever invented Halloween were in league to try and take us out." Leo nodded in agreement with the Cupid as they walked into the living room.

Piper looked up from the flashlight she was fixing as they came in and said, "Where are Phoebe and Henry?"

Coop answered, "They're upstairs trying to clean up. It's not fair for you to have to do it all." _Halloween did always destroy the Manor. It always looked like a bomb went off afterwards._

Piper just shook her head and said, "They don't have to do that. It can't be that bad."

Coop laughed a little and muttered to Leo under his breath, "She haven't seen what it looks like up there. It's not easy getting 8 kids dressed up." Leo just laughed.

Phoebe and Henry came down the stairs and started gathering all the kids into the living room. Once they had all sat somewhere on the floor or couch Mel looked at all them in their costumes.

Wyatt was a cowboy. _He was a cowboy for like 5 years in a row._ Chris was an Indian. Prue was a witch and Mel was a fairy_. Cassie is so adorable in her cheerleader costume. _One of the twins was an angel while the other was a devil. _And then Bree is a pumpkin. I think we all wore that costume one Halloween._

As soon as all the kids were settled Phoebe began giving instructions. "Okay, everyone. Listen up. I want everyone to stay together tonight. Uncle Coop, Uncle Henry, and Uncle Leo are going to take you guys out trick or treating okay? If any of you get tired just tell one of them and they'll bring you home. I want everyone on their best behavior. And nobody eat any candy until you get home!"

All of the kids nodded in agreement. They all scrambled to get up and ran to the front door. Wyatt and Chris hung back and went up to the sisters. "Can me and Chris go out by ourselves this year? I am 11 you know." _I'm pretty sure he started going out by himself before he was 11._

Phoebe looked over at Piper nodded and said, "But only if you check in every half hour, okay?" The boys quickly looked at each other before turning back to their mom and nodding their heads. "Okay, then. Have fun and be safe." They both turned and went run out of the house as Piper called behind them, "Don't forget to check in!" _Wyatt would never offer to take Chris out any other year. How come all of these memories seem different?_

Paige commented, "I remember the first Halloween I went around on my own with my friends I got brought home by the police." Piper and Phoebe just looked at her. "I guess you don't have to worry about that though." She muttered to herself, "At least not yet."

"Paige!"

Mel felt the now familiar tug again and quickly shut her eyes. She was eager to see what the next memory would be. As soon as it stopped her eyes popped open and she looked around her.

The house was still decorated but not for Halloween this time. _It was someone's birthday._

Piper came out of the kitchen with a trash bag. She picked up bits of wrapping paper and Chris came running down the stairs. "Hey, mom. I'm going to bed, okay?"

Piper nodded and said, "Okay." She hugged him and kissed him on the forehead. "I can't believe you're 14 already. Time flies, huh?" _14?_

Chris just nodded and said, "Thanks for the party. Night! I love you." He ran back up the stairs and Mel heard a door close. _Aunt_ _Piper died the morning of Chris's 14__th__ birthday. This doesn't make any sense. _

Piper went back to cleaning up as Mel felt the tug again. _Okay, I just want to figure out what's going on now. _She didn't even bother to close her eyes this time but instead watched as flashes of the years went by. She caught brief glimpses of all the kids growing up and going to school.

It just kept spinning until she got dizzy and closed her eyes. As soon as she did it stopped suddenly. It was cold wherever she was. She slowly opened her eyes and gasped.

She was on top of the Golden Gate Bridge in the middle of the night. _Of course I have to be scared of heights. What memory is this? I don't remember ever being up here. Only Elders come up here usually._

"That's not completely true, Melinda."

Mel spun around and looked at the person in front of her. "Who the hell are you?"

He replied, "I'm surprised you don't recognize me. I'm the Angel of Destiny."

* * *

**AN: I want lots of reviews. Tell me what you like and what you don't like. It doesn't matter just tell me what you think!**


	10. Tell Me What To Do

What Could Have Been

**AN: I know it's been forever since I updated and I probably don't even have any readers left but since I've recently gotten back into the writing mood I figured I'd give it a try. **

Chapter 10

"The Angel of Destiny? Are you kidding me?" _I don't have time to deal with this guy. _

The old man laughed and shook his. "You're so very much like your mother and your aunts. Always impatient. Always going somewhere and needing to do something. Always in a hurry. Sometimes it's good to just stop and think about where you're going."

Mel rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her chest. _This is ridiculous. I need to get back to Chris. _

The angel shook his head again and said, "Don't worry about your family right now. I have suspended time for both them and the time we are in at the present moment. It has come into my consideration that there is a need for me to speak with you."

She squinted her eyes at him before replying, "About what?"

"Your destiny, of course." _Of course._

Mel sighed before giving in and saying, "Okay, just make it quick."

He laughed once again and looked straight into her eyes. As soon as they made eye contact Mel saw her entire life go before her eyes. She saw the generations of Halliwells before her and after her. All in a second she saw her entire being born, growing up, and dying. Mel broke their connection and stepped backwards.

"What the hell was that?"

This time the Angel didn't laugh. He just grinned slightly and said, "That is what I need to talk to you about. Your future. And your past. But mostly your future."

Mel tried to clear her head as she blinked. "What about my future? Am I going to die?"

"Everyone dies, Melinda. You will too just as everybody else who has come before you. There is no stopping it. There isn't even a way to delay it. Many people believe that they can stall death. But it was really their destiny all along."

Mel could feel herself getting frustrated again as she replied, "I know I'm going to die. I meant will I die soon? Is there even any point in trying to stop Wyatt?"

"There is most definitely a point to stopping Wyatt. Your family has a way of not only changing their destinies, but also ruining them beyond recognition. This is what occurred with Wyatt. We knew that he would be swayed towards evil but we could never have known just how far he would fall into it. Now that he has killed most of the Halliwell line, we have realized it is time for him to be stopped. It is not your family's destiny to die off. You are needed for this world to keep going. Without the Charmed magic, evil will prevail and the world will end."

Mel just nodded her head absent mindedly. _How am I supposed to stop him. He's so much stronger then me. He's stronger then everybody._

"So what do you want me to do about it? How can you expect me to be able to stop him. I've tried. We've all tried. It's too hard. We're all too weak to take him on. Even together we barely even hurt him."

"It's not as hard as you've come to think. The reason you can't defeat him is because he is one of you. He is a Charmed just as you all are. What you need is the next generation of Charmed Ones."_ The next generation of Charmed Ones...?_

"What do you mean the next generation? I thought **WE** were the next generation."

"You were, but not completely. The Charmed Ones are supposed to be three girls. These girls will turn into the most powerful witches the world has ever seen. Each generation will get stronger. Your mother and aunts said you and you're cousins were the next generation but they were not completely correct. You were all Charmed but you were not the Charmed Ones. You were not all girls. Now the time has come for the next generation of Charmed Ones to start to come into existence. Two already have. All you need is the third." _A third? But that would mean that one of us would have to have a..._

Mel's eyes widened as what he was saying clicked in her head. "Oh, no. No way in hell. You must be crazy if you think I'm going to have a kid. I'm twenty and I keep getting people killed as it is. I could never raise a kid in the middle of this mess." _This guy must be cracked._

The angel just looked at her and said, "It seems that is already too late to be worried about that." _You have got to be kidding me._

"How the hell could you know if I'm pregnant. I had sex for the first time in like months yesterday. Even if I was it would be way to early to know." _Except for the fact that he's an Angel of Destiny and he would be the one to know._

Mel sighed and squeezed her eyes shut. _This cannot be happening. I can't have a baby. I can barely take care of Peyton. O, god. How am I going to tell Matt? He's going to freak. This cannot be happening. _"Why is it so good that I'm pregnant. How is this going to help? Won't it just get in the way?"

The Angel shook his head and help his hand out to her. "Come with me. I want to show you something." _This is not going to be fun._

Mel looked doubtfully down at his hand. She bit her bottom lip before slowly reaching out her hand and grabbing the sleeve of his robe. They disappeared in a white glow.

When Mel opens her eyes the first thing she sees is herself. A very pregnant, pissed off her. _Okay. It looks like I'm in labor. _She's sitting on a chair with a bag next to her. _Wonder if my powers get stronger when I'm pregnant like Aunt Piper. I hope so._

"Matthew, if you don't get your ass down here in the next second I am going to kill you! I am going to gauge you're eyeballs out and slow roast you over a fire." The last part she mostly muttered to herself in annoyance. _I never really have dealt that well with pain._

"Mel, I don't think you should be thinking that about the person whose driving you to the hospital. You know. The place where the painkillers live." Matt said this as he came down the stairs with the car keys. "Are you ready?"

Mel glared up at him before practically growling at him, "I have been ready. You're the one who was not ready!" Matt grinned a little bit to himself as her leaned over and helped Mel stand up.

"Get that smirk off your face, jerk!" _And I do tend to get a little bit nasty too I guess._

The scene began fading into as the couple walked out the door. As it shut behind them, Mel turned to the Angel and said, "Okay, I get that I'm pregnant but I still don't get why.'

The Angel shook his head slowly. "You don't understand yet. That was only one way the situation could turn out." _Maybe if you just explained it to me we wouldn't have to go through all these guessing games._

Suddenly they were in what looked like a parking garage. It was empty except for a couple cars minus their tired scattered throughout the large space. Behind one was Chris crouching over Mel who was laying on her back with her knees pulled up.. Tears were streaming down her face as she let her head fall backwards and her body shook with silent sobs. _Why am I giving birth in this dump?_

"Come on, Mellie. You have to have this baby. You're doing so good. Just try to be quiet and push." Chris spoke in a hushed tone as her looked nervously around the garage.

Mel shook her head from side to side with her eyes squeezed tightly shut. "Chris, it hurts so bad. I feel like I'm being ripped apart. Make it stop hurting. Just make it be over. Please!" Chris took as moment look at his cousin as she breathed in between her contractions. _He pities me. I can see it in his eyes._ He slowly reached up and brushed the hair out of her face.

Mel's body tensed up again as another wave of pain went through her. "I wish Matt were here. I need him now. I can't do this without him!" _Where __is__ Matt?_

Chris just grabbed her hand and said, "Push!"

The scene faded out again as Mel slowly turned back to face the Angel.

"So either Wyatt will be fixed or you will loose more then you already have." _Matt._ "If you wait until you have this child she will bring about his downfall. The girl that will complete the Charmed Ones once again. At this moment you are carrying the means to the most powerful force ever in existence." _That doesn't make me feel pressured or anything._

"Well, of course I want to get rid of him now. But none of us can. We're not strong enough."

The Angel shook his head. "That is what I came here to tell you. Gideon pulled Wyatt astray from the path of good and his mother's death lead him further away. But when Christopher went back in time to save him he succeeded. What he did should have put Wyatt back on his rightful journey, along with the rest of your family. But somehow - we're not exactly sure how - Wyatt avoided the time loop that should have followed. We're guessing he decided to follow you into the year 2001 at the moment time reset itself in the year 2004."

"So how do we fix it?" _Something tells me this isn't going to be easy..."_

"You must get Wyatt back into the year of 2004. Once he is there his evil self will be absorbed by the child Wyatt and the good will prevail. The only thing is that you must account for Wyatt being near you now. He will not be pleased with your pregnancy or the rise of another set of Charmed Ones. Their power will be the only thing powerful enough to bring them down. He will want to destroy it." _Okay so I have to 2 options. Figure out a way to knock Wyatt into 2004 or protect myself until I have this baby and then I can use her power._

Mel nodded to herself as she looked at the view from the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. _I don't even remember coming back up here._

"It's not going to be easy is it?"

The Angel of Destiny shook his head. "Not at all. But if there's anyone who would be able to do it, it would be a Halliwell. I trust that you will succeed in your mission. It's not taken as an option in your family to fail, is it?" He smiled sadly at her.

_No, I guess it's not. _Mel looked him in the eyes before replying, "Before I go back could you show me more of what it could be like. Because more and more lately I feel like it's all I can do not to give up...and I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out." _Baby or no baby._

The Angel sighed before nodding slightly. "We're really not supposed to but I guess this can be counted as a special circumstance." He reached his hand and this time she didn't hesitate when she reached back and grabbed it.

The first thing she saw was herself again. She was sitting on the grass in a park with shorts and a tank top on and a little girl no more then 2 was running around her. The child was pale and had brown hair and eyes just like Mel

"Parker, be careful! You don't want to get hurt do you?" As Mel finished the sentence the little girl tripped and landed on all fours. For a moment she looked shocked but then began to cry with tears leaking from her eyes.

The future Mel quickly got onto her knees and picked the girl up and hugged her. "Where does it hurt, baby?"

Parker pointed to her knee where there was a small cut with a little bit of blood. Mel blew on it a little bit before reaching for her back and pulling out Neosporin and a band-aid. She put some ointment on the wound and then gently placed the band-aid over it. The girl's cries had subsided into sniffles as she watched her mother care for her.

Mel kissed her knee and said, "All better!" Parker grinned before throwing her arms around her neck and hugging her. _Not half bad._

The scene faded and was replaced by the kitchen in the Manor. A slightly aged Mel was standing at the stove stirring a pot while Parker sat on the counter watching her. She looked to be about 10 and her hair had darkened over the years. _I hate making potions_

"Mom, how come you haven't taught me how to make potions yet?"

Mel grimaced before replying, "Because you should be concentrating on the spells and developing your powers. Plus you've been learning self-defense and going to school at the same time. I don't want it to be too much for you."

"You don't think I can do it?" Parker raised an eyebrow. _She has attitude...just like I did._

"Of course I think you can do it."

"Well Daddy said that you haven't started yet because you were never good at it."

Now it was Mel's turn to raise her eyebrow. "Really, well you know what? Daddy's wrong. And you better not listen to him...or else."

"Or else what?," she said jokingly.

Mel turned around and grinned before she started tickling the little girl. _She's ticklish just like me._

The scene faded again and they were in the living room on the Manor. It looked like Halloween again. Mel was sitting on the couch next to Prue as 3 girls came up to them. There was a blond one dressed like a cheerleader, a black haired one with a birthmark that looked a phoenix dressed as a witch and a brown haired one dressed as a fairy.

Prue smiled at them as she said, "You guys be good. Don't do anything stupid. And wait til you get home to eat any of the candy. And make sure to check in!"

All 3 of them were nodding as they began to back up towards the front door.

"I mean it! If you don't you have to take the little kids around next year and be in by 6:30."

The cheerleader spoke for all three of them. "Don't worry, Aunt Prue! I'm 14. We've been going alone for 3 years now. We know what to do. See you later!" The other girls yelled goodbye too as they ran out the front door, letting it slam behind them._ Just like Wyatt and Chris._

As the scene faded out more began going quickly in front of Mel's eyes. She saw herself laughing with Prue and Chris. She saw Matt hugging her from behind and kissing the side of her neck. She saw her daughter standing in front of a full length mirror wearing a red strapless prom dress. Then she was standing in front of the same mirror in a wedding dress. More and more images flashed before her eyes until it became a blur.

All of the sudden it stopped and they were back on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. "Does that satisfy you?"

Mel nodded as she looked the Angel in the eyes. "Yes. All I needed was a chance that maybe one day we'll be happy again." _It's not even a guarantee but I guess it's better then nothing._

"Well that it what you have. Now it is up to you to make it happen. Come. I will send you back now."

This time Mel put her hand out first and he clasped it back tightly. She shut her eyes and felt the air move around her. When she opened them again she was back in the attic with everyone she had left plus a couple. They were all still frozen. _How did they get here?_

Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of her cousin with the little girl. She looked at Chris and saw him holding a baby. _So that's the baby._ She leaned closer to get a better look._ She looks so much like Bianca._

Just as she was about to touch the baby, time restarted.


End file.
